


Still Made Of Gold

by ToriWritesStories



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Abby is actually a good mom and she and Clarke are tight, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Clarke and Lexa are both lowkey workaholics, Clexa are both in very single stages in their lives, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, Penthouse, Romance, Smut, Workplace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-03-21 01:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 82,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13730703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriWritesStories/pseuds/ToriWritesStories
Summary: Clarke is a little bit of a workaholic - probably thanks to her mother - and she uses her job as an excuse for why she is and has been single for a pretty long while. Lexa is a little bit of a workaholic herself, as someone who grew up with basically nothing and is now supporting her above-average lifestyle on her own. Despite that, Lexa finds herself instantly drawn to the blonde, and Clarke finds herself loosening up as she is swept up by the excitement and passion that comes with getting to know Lexa. Their lives begin to entangle and, after spending so much time on themselves, alone, they begin to grow together.





	1. Lonely Hearts Club

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooo lovelies, I am back!! Oh my goodness, I hated not posting for these past few weeks! Seriously, this is abnormal for me. If you've been around a while, you might know that I haven't taken any real breaks in between stories like at all since I started writing on Ao3. In fact, the last (and only) time I remember taking a break in writing was during summer of 2015, when I stopped writing for a couple of months 8 chapters into Molihua, which was before I even had an Ao3 account. So this was kind of weird for me to do, but unfortunately, I really needed it.  
> Thankfully, inspiration hath returned to me! I've written almost 20,000 words for this story so far, so I felt like it was a good time to start posting it! It's a bit different from the type of stories I usually write, but it does still tick all my [personally] required boxes: happy ending, fluff and drama, not too much angst, and a few other things I can't say because spoilers!!  
> Anyway, hello, welcome to my new story, whether or not you've been here for my old ones! I really hope that you will enjoy it! I always appreciate feedback, both here and on Twitter (@BrittzandTana). I hope you'll stick around for this story, I have fun plans for it! :D
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** “So, eleven thirty, you’ll be here?” Abby Griffin questioned. “Not late again?”

“I’ll be on time,” Clarke promised in return, glancing down at her watch. Her lunch break was almost over, and of course she’d spent most of it on the phone with her mother.

“Good, because last time, people were starting to doubt that I even had a daughter. Not to mention how much you’re always working.”

“You’re one to talk when it comes to that, mom.” She said it with a teasing tone, but that didn’t make it any less true. Her mom, a surgeon, worked harder and more often than most people Clarke had met throughout her life. When she was younger, that was always really rough. Especially since her parents had separated when she was young, and her dad lived a couple of hours north now, in San Francisco. But ever since Clarke finished college, things had been better between her and her mom. Although Clarke hadn’t gone into medicine, she was constantly finding herself consumed by her work, and she supposed that she got it from Abby Griffin herself.

“Yeah, yeah, well. Anyway, I’ll let you go. See you tomorrow for lunch, dear. I love you.”

“Love you too, mom.” The phone call ended there, and Clarke slid her phone in her pocket. She glanced down at her half finished sandwich in front of her, and then back up at the café. It was just down the street from her work, so it wouldn’t take long to get back. She had a couple more minutes to finish her meal.

Lately, Clarke thought a lot about her mom and her work. Clarke often felt like she was going to turn out a lot like her mother, the only difference being that it didn’t seem like Clarke was ever going to get married, let alone divorced. Of course, if she did get married, she would like to avoid divorce if possible. Thankfully, her parents’ divorce hadn’t royally messed up her life, but for some people, it did.

But with Clarke having just passed age twenty-five, she was feeling less and less confident that she’d even find someone to marry. Maybe that was why she threw herself even further into her job – it distracted her from the fact that a big part of her life was lacking. It helped that she loved her job – she worked at a not-for-profit organization that focused on empowering women and helping homeless and underprivileged women get back on their feet. The organization had been pretty new when Clarke started interning at it during college for no pay, but in the past five years, it had blown up. She now had a decent paying job fairly high up in the ranks.

She lived in a modest apartment just inside Los Feliz, and she really liked the area in which she lived. It was pretty close to her job, the headquarters for which was on the outskirts of downtown LA. It was also near Griffith Park, and Clarke liked to go walking there sometimes, in her spurts of free time. Her mom lived in Glendale, so that was fairly close as well.

So with her job and living situation, Clarke was basically living a dream. And to sometimes her own surprise, she did manage to keep up a few great friendships through it all. There was Octavia, whom she’d known since high school. After becoming very fast friends in their sophomore year, they’d both been thrilled to find out that they were both trying to go to college at USC, and thankfully, they were both accepted there. That was where Clarke had gotten her bachelor of arts degree in sociology, and Octavia had gotten bachelor of science in business administration.

While Clarke had gotten her first internship at the nonprofit, Octavia had been pursuing her second internship at some company in downtown LA. That internship, like the first one she’d had, didn’t lead anywhere specifically for her career, but once she graduated, Octavia had received a couple of great opportunities. The one she’d taken was an entry level job at a tech company located east of Beverly Hills. In order to be close to it, she’d moved to Little Armenia, which was close enough to Clarke’s desired apartment in Los Feliz. And just like that, after graduating college, their lives had taken off.

At the company that Octavia worked at, she’d met Raven, and the two of them had hit it off rather quickly. Since at that time, Octavia was really the only person that Clarke saw on a regular basis, she’d ended up hanging out with her and Raven on one occasion, and just like that, their trio was born.

So yes, Clarke had a decent life, and the only thing she ever really felt she was missing was a relationship. It might’ve been less annoying if she was at least dating, but she’d stopped doing that a lot after she got stuck in a weird position of one guy thinking that she was exclusive with him after two dates, while she’d gone on a date with a woman in between. That had been about a year ago, and since, she’d pretty much stopped playing the dating game. The older she got, the more she cared about getting into something serious rather than just having occasional fun dates and sex.

And although she did miss both the dates and the sex, especially the sex really, it wasn’t worth wasting her time with people she knew she probably wouldn’t be speaking with by a few weeks after whatever happened between them.

Finishing up her sandwich, Clarke let out a breath. She stretched her arms up above her, then stood, grabbing her garbage, and started out of the café. It was time to get back to work.

* * *

**Raven – Hey, you guys doing anything tonight?**

**Octavia – Probably not, but I could potentially be going out with a some women from work. They haven’t texted about it yet.**

**Raven – Clarke?**

**Clarke – No don’t think so, but I do have lunch with my mom and some of her friends. I was just gonna get ahead on emails for work.**

**Raven – Oh ok.**

**Octavia – Dude, are you okay? You’re texting like something isn’t okay. What happened???**

**Raven – I don’t wanna bother you guys**

**Clarke – It’s Zara, isn’t it? What happened?**

**Raven – She just came over, grabbed her extra phone charger and her toothbrush and some clothes that she says were hers but were definitely mine, and said that we’re over. So.**

**Octavia – What!!! What time is your lunch over, C?**

**Clarke – Should wrap up by 1:30. Meet at Raven’s at 2?**

**Octavia – Yep. You gonna bring the goods?**

**Clarke – Got it.**

**Raven – What**

**Octavia – Don’t worry about it babes, we’ll be there at 2. Don’t eat too much ice cream.**

**Raven – Okaaay**

* * *

“Clarke!” Abby Griffin said brightly, grabbing her daughter in a hug as soon as she opened the door.

“Hey mom,” Clarke greeted in response. “Am I the last one here?”

“You are, but you’re on time, and that’s all I asked, so,” Abby said with a chuckle. “Come on in. Been doing okay? Didn’t stay too late at the office last night did you?”

“No, I got home at a reasonable time,” Clarke answered.

“Reasonable for you is seven, Clarke.”

“Not true,” Clarke argued with her mom. “I got home at six last night. I’m working on readjusting my  _ reasonable _ measurement.”

Abby smiled. “I guess it’s my fault you work so much anyway. Speaking of work. I’m excited for you to meet everyone. Come on.” She led Clarke through the house to the dining area, where a bunch of Abby’s coworkers were seated discussing something or another.

Abby had become head of surgery at the hospital the year before, and since then, she tried to host as many of the surgeons as she could for lunch once a month. Because of shifts and the craziness that was working as a hospital as a surgeon, there were usually a whole different gang of people there every time. To keep it lively, Abby usually invited her surgeons to bring their significant other or a friend, and in turn, she always invited Clarke.

It was usually a fairly interesting situation, but the last few times, Clarke had been pretty sure that her mom was trying to set her up with some of the younger surgeons. And, unsurprisingly, it seemed like she was doing it again this time. “This is my daughter Clarke,” she introduced the blonde to the group. “Clarke, this is…” She proceeded to list the names, but Clarke knew that she wouldn’t remember after that, even if she did smile and nod and shake everyone’s hands.

Abby brought out the food that she’d ordered for lunch, and everyone started eating and chatting. It took only a minute or two of conversation for Clarke to realize which of the young men there her mom was trying to get her with. He was wearing a blue button down and his hair was gelled into a sort of swoosh. His dark eyes kept landing on Clarke, even when the blonde hadn’t said a word in a few minutes, and she kept noticing. He was the only one who Clarke ended up being able to name, because every time her mom would say anything it was like, “Clarke, why don’t you tell everyone about your job? Actually,  _ Allen _ , didn’t I already tell you about it? Well either way, Clarke explains it so much better. Tell Allen about it, Clarke, he loves nonprofits.”

It got pretty tired pretty quickly, and Abby could tell that Clarke had caught on – along with probably everyone else at the table – so she sort of gave up toward the end of the meal. It was around one in the afternoon when everyone started leaving. Clarke stuck around with her mom to help clean up the dishes, and figured that she’d address the set up situation.

“You know you don’t have to try and set me up with all the young, eligible surgeons at the hospital, right? Most of them aren’t really my type.” She kept her eyes down, carefully rinsing the ceramic plates and loading them into her mom’s dishwasher as the older woman put the extra food into the fridge.

“Clarke, do you even have a type? You haven’t dated anyone in over a year,” Abby argued. “You know I just want you to be happy.”

“Maybe I don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy,” Clarke suggested. “I’m pretty happy right now. Great jobs. Great friends.”

“Sweetie, don’t you remember when you were in college? You were that girl that was always dating someone.”

“Maybe I over-dated and now I’m all dated out.” Clarke looked up at her mom, who was looking at her with confusion.

“I don’t think that’s a correct term, but either way, it’s beside the point. You’re still in the prime of your life, and you’re such an amazing young woman. This is the perfect time for you to find a relationship, because you’ve got yourself figured out otherwise. I was only a little younger than you are right now when I met your father.”

“Yeah well, that didn’t really work out, did it?”

Abby rolled her eyes, because Clarke always said that when her mom tried to use her and Jake Griffin as an example of a relationship. “No, obviously it didn’t. But I got you out of it, didn’t I? And not everyone doesn’t work out. It just wasn’t meant to be with me and your father.”

“I know,” Clarke said with a sigh, looking back down at the dishes. She was almost finished with them, which was good, because she was starting to regret starting this conversation. Not to mention, she needed to be headed over to Raven’s pretty soon. “But still, I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I always  _ make _ a big deal over it, but it doesn’t really matter. Octavia’s still single. And apparently Zara just broke up with Raven, so we’re a trio of singles again.”

“I just think you need to try and put yourself out there, you know? Waiting for the right person is okay, but  _ literally _ waiting isn’t. They’re not necessarily going to just walk into your normal day to day life.” Clarke said nothing, loading the last plate into the dishwasher and then pouring in some detergent and starting it. Abby was finished putting the food away at this point, and there was nothing left to clean up, so the younger blonde just looked to her mom.

“Thanks for lunch, mom. It was fun.”

“Thanks for coming. And I’m sorry about Allen. If you really want me to stop trying to set you up, I will. I just worry for you.”

“I know, mom, but you don’t have to worry. I’m happy, and my job is really important to me right now. I’ll give you permission to worry about me when I’ve pushed thirty, alright?”

Abby looked horrified. “Please don’t still be single when you’re thirty, Clarke, I want grandchildren.”

“Getting married doesn’t mean having children.”

“Of course not, but if you decide that you do want kids, you’ll probably be doing it once you’re married. So the earlier that happens, the more likely it is that grandchildren happen.”

Clarke chuckled, shaking her head. “I could just adopt, then it wouldn’t matter how old I am when it happens.”

“I don’t care how old you are when you have kids Clarke, I care how old  _ I’ll _ be.” Abby scoffed, and Clarke smiled again.

“I have to head over to Raven’s. Love you mom, I’ll make sure to come visit in a few weeks.” She grabbed her mom in a hug.

“Alright. Call me if you feel like talking… about guys… or girls… or anything.”

“Will do.” Clarke shook her head playfully. “Love you, bye.”

“Love you too, drive safely. And tell Raven that I’m sorry about Zara.”

“I will!”

* * *

Clarke grabbed the paper shopping bag out of the passenger seat in her car before climbing out of it. She was parked at Raven’s apartment complex in Culver City. Raven lived slightly further away from Clarke and Octavia because after leaving her old job a few years ago, she’d gotten one in Inglewood, and hadn’t wanted to commute from West Hollywood all the way there every day, which was totally understandable.

Octavia was probably already here, so Clarke would probably not be super involved in damage control. Octavia was better at that anyway, and if you asked Clarke, it was because the two brunettes had always had some sort of connection that Clarke lacked with either of them. She’d been convinced that the two of them would start dating when they first met, but they never did.

When she made it to Raven’s door, it only took a single knock for it to swing open, revealing Octavia. “Perfect timing. I just got her to get out of bed.”

Raven actually wasn’t usually one to make a big deal over a breakup, but Clarke and Octavia knew that this was an abnormal case. Raven and Zara had been together for over a year and a half, but recently, things had been going downhill. They’d been fighting a lot, and they’d had to spend more than one night trying to get Raven to stop crying over something or another. So Clarke and Octavia had planned the night that the two of them broke up, because it had seemed inevitable once all the drama started.

“It’s not like I’ve been in bed all day,” Raven called in annoyance from the couch, where Clarke saw her as soon as the blonde entered the apartment. “I was up this morning when Zara got here.”

“You still shouldn’t be in bed all day,” Octavia reasoned, and Clarke nodded along in agreement. “You got me out of bed when I got dumped last year, remember? I’m trying to return the favor.”

“I guess it’s appreciated then. Can we watch a sad movie now so I can cry and blame it on that?”

“Uh, no,” Clarke vetoed immediately, her and Octavia going and joining the Latina on the couch. “We have plans tonight.”

“You guys do?”

“All of us do,” Clarke corrected. “We are going out.”

“Uh, no. I’m not going anywhere.”

Octavia crossed her arms. “Yes, you are. It’s going to be great. We’re going to a club that we know the bitch won’t be at, since she treats going anywhere that isn’t a gay club or bar as basically a sin. It’s in West Hollywood, though, so there will be probably plenty of men and women you could potentially get under – if you want to. Of course, if you don’t want to, then we’re just gonna get wasted and dance with some hotties. And we’ll go back to my place and crash there.”

“Doesn’t Clarke need to get work done or something?”

Clarke shook her head. “No, you are both mine and Octavia’s first priority right now. And we are going out.”

“But then I have to find something to wear.”

Clarke lifted the bag, shaking it gently. “Did you think I just started carrying a shopping bag around as a purse now? O and I bought you some new stuff a few weeks ago, and it’s all hot and in your size and perfect for tonight. Gonna try and throw out another excuse?”

“What if I start sobbing while we’re out?”

Octavia shrugged. “Someone’s always sobbing at clubs. But you won’t, because even though you’re sad, you know this is for the best in the long run. Zara didn’t deserve you – she was treating you like shit lately and not valuing you, and you’re fucking great, okay Rae? So we’re doing this as a big  _ fuck you _ to her, and also because you deserve to dance with some hotties who do know you’re worth the time.”

Raven looked between her two friends and then let out a loud exhale. “Okay, fine. Ugh. This is so uncharacteristic of us. I’m usually the one encouraging us to do fun stuff because you guys are  _ old _ .”

“Older than you by a year, you weirdo,” Octavia argued with a scoff.

“Please don’t start talking about age right now, I don’t need anymore reason to think about the fact that I’m over halfway through my twenties already. My mom is worried for me because she doesn’t think I’m going to be married by age thirty, and apparently she needs that so that I can have kids while she’s still young enough to be a hot grandma or something.”

Octavia lifted an eyebrow. “She didn’t say that word for word, did she?”

“No,” Clarke answered with a light laugh. “But basically.”

“Your mom will always be hot,” Raven insisted. “Maybe I should try to get under her to get over Zara.”

Clarke usually hated it when her friend made jokes like that about her mom, mostly because the thought fully grossed her out, but right now she just rolled her eyes. “I’ll let that one slide because of the circumstance, but no, you are still forbidden from trying to hook up with my mom. Not that she would ever swing that way.”

“I bet I could turn her.”

“You’re nasty.”

“Hey, you can’t be mean to me right now, I’m heartbroken.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Alright guys, let’s order some lunch so we can get this one in a better mood before we go. What do you guys want?”

Clarke laid back into the cushions on Raven’s couch. “Well I just ate, so you guys can get whatever.”

“Looks like it’s your choice then, babes,” Octavia said to the Latina, who hummed thoughtfully.

“Pizza.” Raven’s face lit up suddenly. “Meat lovers. With extra cheese and extra sausage.”

Clarke snickered – Zara hated meat on pizza, so it seemed like Raven was ready to take advantage of the lack of Zara in this situation. Octavia grinned. “Alright, one large meat lovers with extra cheese and sausage coming right up.”

* * *

The club they wound up at later in West Hollywood was not one that Clarke was particularly familiar with, but that was probably a good thing, because it meant that there weren’t necessarily a lot of familiar faces there. But it had great music and even better alcohol, so the three of them were instantly happy upon arriving and getting their first glass of their preferred drinks.

“Alright, we planning on potentially splitting up tonight or we getting an Uber at close?”

“Before close, probably, if we get an Uber,” Clarke said, glancing at Raven for confirmation.

“Yeah, Uber around midnight probably. I don’t think I’ll end up wanting to go home with anyone. And that way in the morning we can all split an Uber to get back to my place so you guys can get your cars.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Time to go find some hotties for you to dance with, Rae!” Octavia and Raven disappeared all of the sudden, probably expecting Clarke to go with them, but the blonde leaned against the bar instead. She was here for Raven yes, but she wasn’t really feeling like clubbing. In fact, she hadn’t gone out to a club in a few months – the last time being when Raven and Zara dragged her out to one trying to get her to hook up with someone. And she  _ had _ hooked up with someone, so at least their goal was achieved.

Now, though, she wouldn’t be doing anything like that, so she was basically just content to sit and drink until her friends were ready to leave.

After about ten minutes of sitting there, sipping her drink and looking between her phone and where she spotted Raven and Octavia dancing with a group of people, someone sat down next to the blonde on her left. “Do you come here often?” Clarke immediately looked up at the girl – a quite pretty and somewhat intimidating blonde.

Clarke didn’t answer the question, but rather asked back, “Is that your best pick up line?”

“No, it’s not. Do you wanna hear my best one?”

“Um…” Clarke wasn’t sure whether or not to encourage the woman, but before she could make up her mind, another woman was sitting on her opposite side, and started speaking.

“Trust me, you don’t want to,” the new woman said, “I keep telling her that it won’t work, and she won’t listen to me, despite it never having worked before. So please just excuse my friend.”

Clarke lifted an eyebrow, getting the feeling that she was the subject of some bet or something. She glanced back at the blonde, and then at the woman on her right. She had dark brunette hair that fell in waves, and piercing green eyes that were practically staring into Clarke’s soul. For a moment, she lost all words. “Ah, I’m not a big fan of pick up lines,” she offered up to the two of them once she’d recovered, “so I was going to pass anyway.”

The brunette looked past Clarke now, at her friend. “Told you, Anya. Pickup lines don’t work on beautiful women anymore.” Clarke felt heat rise to her cheeks as the brunette’s eyes met with hers again.

“Yeah so,” the blonde – Anya – said, drawing Clarke’s gaze now, “I’ll just be, somewhere else.” The woman rolled her eyes as she left the bar, and Clarke looked back at the brunette, who was wearing a slight look of pride.

“Again, sorry about her. My name is Lexa.”

“Clarke,” the blonde returned, unsure of exactly how she should be navigating this conversation. She obviously wasn’t looking for a hookup, so if that’s what this woman wanted, she was wasting her time. “So… you don’t use pickup lines to hit on girls – you use your friends instead?”

“Shh, you’ll give away my secret,” Lexa replied, her lips turning up in a smile. “Are you here alone?”

“No,” Clarke answered. “My friends are on the dance floor.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“I’m here for moral support. One of them got dumped this morning.”

Lexa lifted her eyebrows. “Wow. And she’s already clubbing? Impressive. That’d take me… at least two days.”

“What would you do in those two days?” Clarke asked with a light laugh.

“Probably not come home from work at all and pretend like life outside of a job doesn’t exist,” Lexa answered in a surprisingly honest tone, but she was still smiling. “Thankfully that hasn’t happened in a while. But I don’t go clubbing often either way – some friends dragged me here, too.”

“So I’m your entertainment until you get to leave?”

Lexa laughed. “Not really. Actually when I saw you I remembered why I should come to clubs more often.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Someone’s gotta protect beautiful women from pickup-line-artists like my friend,” Lexa reasoned, quirking up an eyebrow. “I’ve never really understood pickup lines.”

“Yeah, they’re not quite the best way to pick up anyone.”

Lexa nodded, and in the moment of silence at that point, her gaze dropped to do a once over of Clarke. It could’ve made the blonde feel self-conscious, but on the contrary, she felt suddenly empowered. It had been a while since she’d met someone who woke a fire within her, but watching this totally captivating woman check her out was enough to do just that. “How would you do it then?”

“Sorry?” Clarke asked, forgetting what they were talking about all of the sudden.

“How would you pick up someone at a club or a bar?”

“Ah, I’m not quite sure actually. I don’t usually make a habit of doing that.”

“I see – you’re usually the one getting hit on, aren’t you?” Lexa asked.

“Well, I don’t really go out very often.”

“But when you do…”

Clarke felt a small smile tug at her lips. “Okay yeah, I guess more often than not, people come hit on me first.”

“I mean I’m not surprised. I didn’t have to look at you for more than a second to decide that I wanted to come over and talk to you.” Lexa gave the blonde a flirty smile, and Clarke figured it was a good time to make sure that she wasn’t giving off the wrong impression here.

“Just so you know, Lexa,” she said slowly, “I won’t be going home with you tonight.”

Lexa smiled, somewhat surprising Clarke. “I wouldn’t expect you to, you’re here with your friends, after all. I  _ would _ be kind of hurt if you did go home without at least letting me borrow your number.”

“Borrow it, huh?” Clarke turned her body slightly so that she was facing the brunette more directly. If Lexa wasn’t assuming that she would go home with her that night, then she was definitely not opposed to flirting. “When are you thinking of returning it?”

“Okay, you caught me, I probably won’t be. But I’ll take very good care of it, and I’m sure you could spare it. And I won’t even be a douche and text you right here with it, because if you want to blow me off, that’s totally fine.”

“You’re kind of weird, you know?”

“Just trying to be memorable. I’m sure that you have a lot of people interested in you, and I want to make sure I stand out,” Lexa insisted, batting her eyelashes a few times now, and Clarke couldn’t help but laugh. As soon as she did, a grin spread across Lexa’s face, and the blonde knew that she would be relinquishing her number.

“Alright, give me your phone.”

Lexa obliged, grabbing the device from her pants pocket and sliding it across the counter. Clarke picked it up and slid across the screen, surprised that there was no password on it. She decided not to question it and went to Lexa’s contact book, fully aware of the woman’s intense gaze firmly tethered to her. She added herself to Lexa’s contacts, but then she texted herself from Lexa’s phone, despite the brunette saying that she wasn’t going to do that herself. Clarke would rather also have Lexa’s number.

Once her phone beeped from the counter in front of her, she handed Lexa’s back to her. “There you go.”

“Wow, so you didn’t blow me off. I’m honored.”

“I don’t like leaving the fate of conversation entirely to another person. It would be very unfair if you were completely in control of the next time we talk, you know?”

Lexa nodded, her gaze not having moved away from Clarke’s eyes. “Well, that’s definitely a very good point.” Suddenly, someone was approaching Lexa, seemingly in a rush.

“C’mon, Lexa, we’re going back downtown – we’re meeting everyone else there,” the woman said.

Lexa looked considerably less happy all of the sudden, but she nodded. “Sure, give me a sec, I’ll meet you guys outside.” The other woman glanced at Clarke quickly, and then back at Lexa, nodding. She then started off toward the exit, and Lexa looked back at Clarke. “Well, it’s a good thing I already got your number, because this would’ve been a tragic parting if not.”

“Really tragic,” Clarke agreed with an overexaggerated nod and a small smirk.

“Hey, I like Shakespeare as much as the next girl, but I’m not trying to bring that kind of shit into real life,” Lexa insisted. She pushed herself away from the bar a little. “Well, Clarke. It was a pleasure meeting you. You can count on my phone call, but if you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to text me whenever.”

“Why thank you,” Clarke replied, imitating Lexa’s joking formality. “I hope you have a blast downtown.”

Lexa chuckled. “I wouldn’t count on it – it’s doubtful that anyone there could light up a room like you do.”

“Uh huh, whatever you say.” Lexa laughed, winking at the blonde before turning and disappearing into the crowd that separated the bar from the exit of the club.

Clarke sighed, leaning against the counter. She hadn’t had that much flirty banter with anyone in a long time, and she definitely couldn’t remember feeling so light from it. But despite Lexa’s compliments and seeming genuine, the blonde still had reason to believe that she didn’t want more than a fun night in bed, so whatever happened, she’d be careful.

Realizing that she was now going to have even less fun just sitting here than she would’ve if Lexa hadn’t ever showed up, she decided to go join her friends on the dance floor. She might as well try and enjoy the rest of the night.

 


	2. Just Thinking Bout You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is feeling more and more drawn to the beautiful woman she met over the weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies!! Thank you so much for the feedback on the first chapter of this story! I am super obsessed with it and I really really hope that you guys will keep liking it!  
> This past week was kind of hell for me, and this coming week will probably be pretty stressful too, but I'm almost done with I think the 4th or 5th chapter of this story, and I can't wait for spring break so that I can powerhouse through some of it lol.  
> Anyway, I really hope that you all enjoy!!xx

**** “You know, I’m pretty sure that staring at your computer screen doesn’t  _ really _ count as working,” Anya said, breaking Lexa out of her daze as she walked into Lexa’s office. “Your secretary said I couldn’t come in because you were busy.”

“Well, you clearly didn’t listen to her,” Lexa muttered. “I am busy. What do you want?”

“Bullshit you’re busy, you’re literally not doing anything.”

“I’m just tired,” Lexa argued, shaking her head. “This is what happens when you drag me out partying all weekend. What did you want?”

“Thought you were on lunch break already so I came by. But I have like two hours before I have to be at the bar, so I figured I’d wait until you’re ready to eat.”

“I already had lunch,” Lexa informed her friend, “sorry.”

“Dude, are you good?”

In all honesty, Lexa was actually kind of in a shitty mood. The previous day, she’d texted Clarke – the beautiful blonde she’d met at the club in West Hollywood on Saturday night – and she hadn’t gotten a response. She wasn’t normally one to care much, but it had seemed like Clarke was interested in talking as well, so she was a little put off. Combine that with the fact that Lexa’s job was stressing her out, and the hangover she’d had all day Sunday... she was not having the best morning. She’d taken her lunch break early hoping it would help her get it together.

“Lexa?”

“Sorry, yeah I’m fine,” Lexa lied quickly, shaking her head. “I have a lot of work to do, so you should probably go.”

Anya narrowed her eyes. “Okay, whatever. Call me when you get off.”

“Sure.” Anya left after that, and Lexa watched through the glass windows as she walked past Maia, her secretary, who gave the blonde a look of annoyance.

Lexa looked back at her computer screen. She did have a lot of work to get done, so she probably should try and actually do it.

Lexa’s job was… an interesting story. She really loved it, or at least she loved being a part of the company. She’d gone to school for journalism, and she’d been  _ really _ good at it. She got an internship at this magazine before she’d graduated, and by the time she got her degree, a full time job as a columnist was hers if she wanted it. And of course she wanted it – she’d wanted it more than anything. That was five years ago – when she was twenty-two. She had climbed up in her career extraordinarily fast, her columns blowing up in the journalism world fairly quickly. She’d ended up writing mostly online columns once the company realized what she was capable of.

All of that said, she’d probably still  _ just _ be a writer for the magazine’s site at this point if she hadn’t been so close with the chief of the magazine. Not the owner of the company, of course, but the woman in charge of what columns went up and which ones were trashed, who wrote what stories and researched what situations – Jenna Michaels. It had been very much in Lexa’s favor to befriend her boss to an extent, because it got her the stories she wanted.

When the assistant chief was forced into an early retirement due to a major death in her family that caused her to have to move across the country, Jenna had insisted that Lexa take her place. The brunette had been hesitant, because working with the higher ups meant that there was less actual writing. That said, Lexa  _ had _ intended to eventually climb the rungs of the corporate ladder if possible, she just hadn’t expected it to happen still so early in her career.

She’d ended up taking the offer, and the money definitely made it worth it. Not only was her salary more than enough for her to live very comfortably, she could get end of the year bonuses that were unofficially based on how much content she wrote for the magazine in addition. And since she was so popular with the magazine’s regular readers, she found herself writing a column or two a month, in addition to helping her boss keep the rest of the magazine’s stories going smoothly.

So yes, it was a lot of work, but she really did love her job. Probably the best part about her current position was knowing that only one job logically came afterward if she stayed here – her boss’s job. And as the chief, she would be able to dish the grunt work off to an assistant, which would mean a lot less stress. It was weird how that worked, she often realized. Jenna definitely got paid more than she did, but Lexa arguably did most of the harder work. Of course, there were no hard feelings there between Lexa and Jenna, because it was just the order of command.

Shaking her head, Lexa looked back at the screen. Speaking of the grunt work, she was currently going through the emails that Jenna had received and had deemed not important enough to get a direct reply from her. After this, though, she had a meeting with a bunch of the writers about some of the columns for the next edition for the magazine. She needed to finish the emails by then, or else Jenna might figure out that something was up with her today, and Lexa would not allow that to happen.

So she stretched her arms over her head, took a long sip of her iced tea, and started answering emails.

* * *

Lexa wasn’t home until nine that night. It was normal for her to spend most of her day at work, because she always had a lot of work to do, and since she was paid salary, she sometimes liked to work longer days when a lot was going on and take afternoons off on less exciting days. She also walked back to her apartment from the magazine’s headquarters, because it was only about a fifteen minute walk.

Lexa lived in a very nice sized penthouse apartment in downtown LA, and her friends liked to make fun of her for being a rich bitch, but the fact was that she had worked so hard for everything she had. If she wanted to live in a penthouse, she would live in a fucking penthouse. It wasn’t like a full top floor penthouse, though – there were three identical ones at the top of her particular apartment complex. It was technically a studio.

The first thing seen when walking in was the kitchen, which was tiled. The cabinets were a dark, creamy brown, and the counter tops were all an ivory colored granite. The appliances were stainless steel. There were bar stools at the island-bar, and since it was just Lexa living there, she had no other official dining area. There would be space for a small table, but she really didn’t need it. Next to the kitchen was the living area, where the floors were hard wood – like the rest of the studio. The first thing she’d bought to furnish the living room was a fluffy, ivory rug to match the countertops, and also because the empty floor had really needed it. Aside from the rug, the living room also housed a dark wood coffee table, a leather couch, and a huge flat screen TV on the wall. That had actually been one of Lexa’s latest purchases for the place.

Past the living room and the kitchen was the wall of windows, as Lexa liked to call it, and it extended down the short hallway over to the separate sleeping area. The windows were floor to ceiling, and they were Lexa’s favorite part of having a penthouse. She loved having a view of Los Angeles like no other, and she loved the natural light that shined in in the mornings.

Upon getting home, she immediately made her way toward the windows, turning and heading toward her bedroom. Although not an actual separate room, she did have a stainless steel curtain rod mounted between the wall and the window – which had taken quite a bit of effort to figure out how to do – and it had a black curtain hanging from it. She usually kept it open, but in the case that she ever needed it, she liked having it there.

Her bedroom was pretty sparse, with only her bed, an ivory and blue bedspread over it, two dark wood nightstands that matched the bedframe. The nightstand on the side of the bed she slept on housed a lamp and a photograph, as well as her charger. Those were the only pieces of furniture in the whole area, but it wasn’t like she needed much else. On her sliding closet door she had a mirror, and inside said closet, there was more than enough space for the few shelves she’d put in there and all of her clothes. There was a second door in the room, and that one led to her bathroom, where her jacuzzi bathtub and the rest of the bathroom necessities were.

She walked into her bathroom, shedding her outer layer of clothes and letting them fall on the floor. Since her apartment didn’t have a place for a washer or dryer, the complex had a room on the top floor between the three penthouses for the washers and dryers, so it made laundry fairly easy. But she usually did laundry at the end of the week, so she tossed the clothes into her laundry hamper and began readying herself for bed.

She still had to eat, but she had leftovers from the food she’d made the night before in the fridge, so she’d probably just scarf that down before collapsing in bed.

It took her about half an hour to get ready for bed, eat dinner, brush her teeth one last time, slide off her underwear and slip into her bed in only her birthday suit. She preferred sleeping naked most of the time, and she wasn’t quite sure why, but it wasn’t like anything was stopping her.

She was about to crash from exhaustion when her phone beeped from her nightstand. Groaning, Lexa considered ignoring it, since it was probably just Anya – Lexa had texted her rather than called her like she said she would – but she decided that she may as well check it.

And she was really glad that she did, because the name on her lock screen was not Anya’s, but Clarke’s.

**Clarke – Hey there, sorry for not responding yesterday. I was crashing at my friend’s place and we had to Uber back to my other friend’s place so I could get my car and then I was working because apparently that’s how I spend my weekends. Anyway I got your message and forgot to reply and now I feel like a shitty person. Any way you’ll be able to forgive me?**

**Lexa – Hmm, I should be able to find it somewhere in my heart to forgive you. After all, it’s not like you were under any obligation to answer me anyway. I should just be considering myself lucky that you decided to answer me at all. It’s not every day that someone as beautiful as you actually texts me. ;)**

**Clarke – I find that hard to believe, you seem to be pretty smooth. I’m sure you could have your pick of women.**

**Lexa – Well even if that was true, maybe I don’t pick very many.**

**Clarke – Do you have a specific type then?**

**Lexa – Not really, it changes a lot. Right now I think I know what it is, though.**

**Clarke – Oh really? And what is it?**

**Lexa – Obviously it’s people who use pick up lines instead of actual real conversation to hit on people.**

**Clarke – Funny lol.**

**Lexa – So, would a phone call cost me extra, or what? ;)**

**Clarke – Hmm I dunno, maybe…**

**Lexa – Tell you what, let me call you, and then if you want it to cost me something, I’ll give you whatever you want ;)**

**Clarke – Go ahead then..**

Lexa, a smirk stuck on her face, hit the call button directly from the text message thread, and the call only rang once before Clarke answered it.

“Whatever I want, huh?” she asked immediately, her tone of voice already waking up Lexa’s center. She needed to try and control herself, because it was highly unlikely that

“There may be a few asterisks along with that. Check the fine print.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

Lexa hummed. “Well then, I guess it is whatever you want then. Why? Decide to charge me extra already?”

“It’s still up in the air. You should play your cards carefully.”

“Shit, I suck at card games.”

“Really?”

Lexa readjusted her blanket over her as she answered, “Yep. I avoid them like the plague.”

“Why do I get that feeling that you’re lying? I feel like you’d have one hell of a good poker face.”

“Well, I don’t. Anyone who knows me can read when I’m lying pretty easily. It’s kind of sad actually.”

“Hm. Then I guess I’m going to have to get to know you, huh?”

Lexa smiled. “That would probably be the best option. So. What are you doing right now?”

“Nothing really. I’ve been home for a while doing work.”

“Did you come home from work to do more work?”

“Yes…?”

Lexa laughed lightly. “Did you not finish it  _ at work _ ?”

“I did, I like to get ahead. Apparently I’m a workaholic, and I get it from my mother.”

“So you don’t do anything other than work then? You even worked over the weekend.”

“I do other things,” Clarke insisted. “I hang out with my friends a lot on the weekends. I go hiking most Saturday mornings. I get lunch with my mom every couple of weeks.”

“Fair enough. To be honest, you and I are kind of in the same boat with that. I work a shit ton. My friends kind of hate me for it. Or well, Anya kind of hates me for it. She’s the only friend I really keep up with – going out on a Saturday with a bunch of people is not really my thing nowadays. But I guess it’s fun every now and then.”

“Yeah, I get that. I partied a lot in college, but I guess I’m just really dedicated to my job now, you know?”

“Same.” There was a moment of silence between them, and Lexa thought for a second of what to say next. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“When’s the last time someone took you on a date?”

“A longer time ago than I care to admit,” Clarke said with a slightly sad chuckle. “My mother’s been beating me up about it. She keeps trying to set me up with people.”

Lexa smiled softly. “Has it been that long since you got laid too? Because I’d refuse to believe that.”

“No,” Clarke admitted somewhat shyly, and Lexa laughed at how her voice was slightly quieter now. “My friend and her ex convinced me to go out and get laid a little while ago.”

“Not a usual thing for you then?”

“What? Going out and getting laid?”

“Yeah.”

“Not really. I can take care of myself.”

Lexa felt heat pool between her legs, and she bit down on her lower lip, trying not to picture Clarke with her hand between her legs. Needless to say, she was failing. “I believe that,” she said, hoping that she didn’t sound as aroused as she felt. It wasn’t very often that the thought of someone could get her this wet this quickly, but Clarke really was a gorgeous, sexy woman, and Lexa had actually been taken aback when she saw her at the club on Saturday. And of course she hadn’t really been trying to take her home, but had that been what Clarke wanted, she probably wouldn’t have said no.

Shaking her head, Lexa tried to refocus on her task.

“Well, if you want, I would really like to take you out this weekend. I mean – if you’re not spending all of your free time working, of course.” She added the last part with the intention of being funny, so she was glad that Clarke let out a little chuckle at it.

“I think I could make time for that. When? Friday? Saturday?”

“Probably Saturday, if that works for you,” Lexa suggested. “I usually work kind of late on the weekdays, so it’d probably be more convenient not on Friday.”

“Saturday works fine for me.”

“Great. Anything I should know before I start planning then? Food allergies? Very specific locations that you hate? Any specific types of clothing that turn you on?” Lexa smiled as she lifted an eyebrow.

Clarke let out a surprised sound that was probably a cross between a squeal and a laugh, and it made Lexa grin. “Wow, confident are we?”

“I just figured I should cover all the bases. So? Anything?”

“No food allergies. No locations that I hate. And I’m pretty sure that you don’t need to worry about that last part.”

“Why’s that?”

“Have you seen you? I don’t think you need any certain clothes to be able to turn people on.”

Lexa felt a smile on her face. “Well, I don’t wanna turn  _ people _ on. I’m trying to turn  _ you _ on.”

“Are you sure it isn’t you that hasn’t gotten laid in a long time?” Clarke asked, skirting away from the topic at hand.

“I am also very good at taking care of myself, Clarke,” Lexa answered pointedly. “Anyway, you keep avoiding my question.”

“Lexa,” Clarke answered, imitating Lexa’s pointed tone, “it doesn’t matter what you wear, I’ll almost definitely think you’re hot no matter what.”

“Well, that is good to know, thank you.”

“Mm, so you’re one of those?”

“Those?”

“You’re cocky, huh? You like knowing that people think you’re hot. You were fishing for that.”

“What is with you and  _ people _ ? I’m not talking to people, I’m talking to you,” Lexa reminded the blonde, a smirk on her face. “But if you have to know, then yes, I do like knowing that you think I’m hot. But I’m not  _ cocky _ . It’s like how you like knowing that I think you’re hot.”

“Mm, whatever you say. So. Saturday, what time?”

“Six-thirty? To account for driving time, of course. Where will I pick you up?”

“I live in Los Feliz,” Clarke replied, “if that’s too far for you I can drive.”

“It’s not too far. I’ll just need your address before Saturday.”

“Yeah, I’ll send it by then,” Clarke promised. “So, what are  _ you _ doing right now?”

“Lying in my bed naked,” Lexa stated bluntly, unsurprised by the silence that followed. She chuckled. “I was about to crash when you texted, but I figured I’d rather put off sleep a little while so I could talk to you.”

“How sweet,” Clarke said, seemingly recovered from the naked comment. “So you sleep naked then?”

“Usually. Do you not?”

“Not typically, no.”

“You should try it, it’s nice,” Lexa suggested, a smirk coming to her lips as she continued, “if you’re scared, you could always try it with me, I know what I’m doing.”

“You think you’re really funny, don’t you?”

“You don’t think I’m funny?”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”

“Fair enough, I guess.”

“So, you don’t live far from Los Feliz?”

“I live downtown,” Lexa said, hesitant to reveal exactly where. One thing she didn’t usually do was bring women back to her place, because some people were low key gold diggers who wouldn’t even realize that they were until they realized the things that Lexa had. And Lexa hated that. Of course, Clarke didn’t _ seem _ like that, but she was still hesitant. “So it’s about a half hour drive depending on exactly where you are. You hike at Griffith Park?”

“Usually yeah. It’s close.”

“I’ve always wanted to try doing that more often. I had a friend drag me hiking north of West Hollywood once, but I got bored – mostly because said friend hikes all the time, so she kind of left me in the dust. I ended up walking back and waiting for her where we started,” Lexa admitted with a chuckle.

“I like it just because it helps clear my mind. Since, you know, I apparently work all the time. It’s a nice getaway.”

“I can imagine.”

“I should probably let you go, right? Since you were about to sleep before I texted.”

Lexa let out a sad sigh. “I suppose so. Although I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to talking a little longer.”

“Well, I don’t want to be responsible for you being tired tomorrow.”

Lexa smiled. “Okay. Well then, I’ll pass out. Goodnight, Clarke.”

“Night, Lexa.”

With that, the call ended. Lexa let out a relaxed breath. Talking to Clarke gave her so many feelings, and she wasn’t used to feeling them. Of course she was attracted sexually to the blonde, but talking to her was also intoxicating somehow. And every time she found out something little about her, she wanted to know more. She shouldn’t feel this connected after only two conversations, but it was the chemistry and the desire that made it feel so much more intense.

She couldn’t wait until Saturday now, and even if she didn’t get laid, she knew that their date would be amazing.

Trying to push away all of her thoughts in order for her to go asleep, she suddenly began once again aware of the slight throbbing in between her legs. Of course her body was now begging to be pleasured. Huffing in annoyance, mostly because she really did need to get to sleep so she could get up and have time to make some breakfast before leaving for work, she shoved her hand down between her leg and gently touched herself. She rubbed her clit, grabbing her boobs with her left hand, and then finally slid her fingers into herself, still rubbing her clit. It only took her a matter of minutes to reach orgasm – she really was probably too good at fucking herself at this point. She worked too much to get laid regularly, and as a result, she found herself masturbating quite often.

And with Clarke on her mind, it would be even more impossible to  _ not _ do so.

Feeling slightly better now, she rolled over, buried her face in her pillow, and fell asleep.

* * *

**Lexa – Favorite type of food?**

**Clarke – I’m not picky.**

**Lexa – Okay, but what’s your favorite?**

**Clarke – I don’t have oneeee.**

**Lexa – Of course you do, aren’t you human?**

**Clarke – Do you have a favorite?**

**Lexa – Yes.**

**Clarke – What is it?**

**Lexa – Italian.**

**Clarke – Then my favorite is Italian :)**

**Lexa – Hmm sneaky, I see. Alright, Italian it is. But for our second date, we’re getting whatever your favorite is.**

**Clarke – There’s that cocky thing again – how are you already sure you’re getting a second date?**

**Lexa – I believe in the power of positive thinking ;)**

**Clarke – You don’t believe in jinxing then, do you?**

**Lexa – Nope, not at all. But feel free to prove me wrong and refuse a second date after Saturday if you want to. I can’t force you to do anything.**

**Clarke – Well we’ll see…**

**Lexa – Looking forward to our second date ;)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would really appreciate any feedback from you guys :D I very much appreciate you being here and reading this, thank you so much, and I hope you all have a lovely day/night!!x


	3. It's So Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke tells her friends about her date, and Clexa goes on their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! Happy Sunday!  
> I had a pretty positive week and weekend, and I'm going to try and make this week positive too! Because after this week, I'm gonna be on spring break! The computer that I use to game is still broken, and probably won't be usable until halfway through spring break... but as sucky as that is, it means that I have more time to write fanfic lol. I had a lazy day today, and since I wasn't playing video games, I finished chapter 5 of this story :D  
> I do have a project to work on this week and a test on Thursday, buuuuut I'll still be writing a lot anyway. And probably a lot this coming weekend. Hopefully. Fingers crossed ahah, I really do love writing this story, so.  
> If I can get far enough ahead, hopefully I can get out some midweek updates. I miss updating super often, but it's like, impossible for me to do that now. :(  
> Anyway!
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** Raven groaned, a few feet behind Clarke as the two of them walked along the trails at Griffith Park. They were even at the actual, ideal hiking areas, but Raven was not feeling it. Clarke was trying to go pretty slow, but the truth was, she really needed the de-stress that came with walking, and Raven had been the one to suggest that she join the blonde. She was still trying to get out of the rut caused by Zara leaving her, and Clarke completely understood, so of course she was willing to have Raven join her on the walk. But the Latina wouldn’t stop groaning at the effort.

“C’mon, Rae, you wanted to do this,” Clarke reminded her friend.

“I know, I’m just tired. Do you think we could take a break?”

Clarke sighed, coming to a stop. “Yeah, sure.”

Raven took a long drink from her water bottle. “Thanks. Sorry. I really do want to be here doing this, it’s just not something my body is used to.”

“I know,” Clarke agreed. “If you want, we can head back down to the cars after this? Then I’ll just go a little while longer by myself.”

“It’s been like an hour, you still feel like hiking? Stressed or something?” Clarke shrugged. “Well, do you wanna see a movie tonight? I was thinking that you and O and I could go see that new scary one – what’s it called? Doesn’t matter, I really wanna see it.”

“Oh,” Clarke said. She hadn’t mentioned to Raven or Octavia that she had a date that night, or that she’d gotten Lexa’s phone number the previous weekend at all. It had been pretty easy to avoid the topic since Raven and Octavia had no idea anything about it in the first place, but now she would have to admit it, because she wasn’t in the habit of lying about something like that. “I can’t. I’m, ah, actually going on a date.”

Raven’s eyes bugged out. “What? With who? Since when? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I’m kind of nervous,” Clarke admitted. “That’s why I feel like hiking. Um. It’s this woman who at the club last weekend, I gave her my number and we’ve been talking on and off this week. She asked if I wanted to get dinner with her tonight. Her name is Lexa.”

“And you really didn’t say anything about it Saturday night or like, this week at all?”

“I didn’t really know if it would lead anywhere, so I didn’t feel like I needed to mention in,” Clarke said with a shrug. “She seems nice, but I’m still slightly getting the feeling that she just wants to fuck.”

“Well, you should fuck her and then if she wants to stick around after, keep fucking her,” Raven suggested with a shrug.

Clarke rolled her eyes. “Okay, I know I said it first, but actually can you not say it like that?” Raven snickered. “Anyway. We’re going to some Italian place, she’s picking me up at six-thirty.”

“Does she live in West Hollywood?”

“No, she lives downtown.”

“Older? Younger? Stable job?”

“Not sure about older or younger. I’d guess she’s around our age? Probably not younger than you if she’s younger than me, although I don’t really get that vibe. She has a stable job – I’m not quite sure what it is, but she works a lot.”

Raven nodded thoughtfully. “No wonder you like her, then. You both love to work!”

“Hey, lay off. Anyway.”

“So why are you nervous? Because you don’t know if she wants to actually date you or just fuck you?”

Clarke shrugged. “I mean… it  _ seems _ like she’s being genuine, but I haven’t even known her for a week. Like I should probably at least go on the first date before I start nitpicking this. Ugh. This makes me feel old.”

“Why, because you’re looking for a serious relationship and not just a one night stand? Newsflash, young people are like that too. And you aren’t old. You’re twenty-five. Like, you’re fine.”

Clarke sighed. “Yeah. I just haven’t… done this is a while. You know?”

“Does she knew that?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’re going to be fine. C’mon, let’s hike back to the parking lot, and we can go to Octavia’s place so we can get the full scoop on this  _ Lexa _ .”

* * *

“What? You have a date tonight and you didn’t tell me?” Octavia demanded.

Of course as soon as they walked into the brunette’s apartment, the first words out of Raven’s mouth were, “Clarke has a date tonight!”

The blonde rolled her eyes. “Yes, it’s not a big deal. It’s a girl that I met while we were at that club on Saturday. We’re just grabbing dinner.”

“And they’re maybe fucking.”

“What’s her name?”

“Lexa,” Clarke answered.

“Okay, now I need other details also…” Octavia looked expectantly at the blonde, who shrugged.

“I like, just met her last weekend. We’ve talked a few times and we have a date tonight. I don’t even know very much, okay? If it was a big thing, I would’ve told you,” Clarke said with a shake of her head. She walked over to Octavia’s couch and plopped down onto it. “Can we just watch Netflix or something? You guys freaking out about this is stressing me out.”

“She’s nervous,” Raven informed Octavia, causing the other brunette to look pointedly at Clarke.

“Leave me alone, okay? Ugh. Didn’t you want me to start watching Grey’s Anatomy or something? Let’s do that.”

Octavia’s face lit up. “Yes, oh my god! You have to watch it, there’s so much drama and it’s awesome! Oh, and if that’s not reason enough, there’s also this great lesbian couple in it.”

“Sounds good, let’s watch some.” Octavia excitedly sat down next to Clarke, grabbing her TV remote from the coffee table.

Raven rolled her eyes. “Really, O?”

“What? I’ve been trying to get her to watch Grey’s forever! C’mon, don’t you wanna watch with us?”

“What about her date?”

“She’ll go back to her place to get ready when it’s later and then tomorrow she’ll tell us how it went. She’s an adult, she’ll be fine.”

Raven huffed. “Okay, fine. Let’s watch some gay shit.”

“It’s not gay until like, a few seasons in.”

“Ugh, it’s suddenly seeming like it’ll be a very boring show then.”

Octavia furrowed her eyebrows at the Latina. “You’re not even gay.”

“Yeah well I’m gayer than you.”

Clarke rolled her eyes at her friends, leaning against Octavia and relaxing into the cushions as she waited for her friend to put on the show.

* * *

At five, Clarke peeled herself off of the couch and away from her friends, giving them a quick goodbye before driving back to her place. She hadn’t showered after hiking, and she definitely smelled, so the first thing she did back at her apartment was shed her clothes and hop in the shower. Then she had to blow dry and straighten her hair, before realizing that she wanted the ends curled and having to go through an extra fifteen minutes in order to get her hair the way she wanted. She shouldn’t have cared that much, but she did.

She topped her shoulders and up look off with some light but flattering makeup, and then moved to her closet. At this point, it was very close to six-thirty, and she was walking around her apartment in zero clothing. Unsure of how the night was going to go, she found herself reaching for some lacy black lingerie, and once it was covering her more sensitive areas, her goal was to find something hot to wear.

She ended up throwing on some tight, dark wash skinny jeans, although it was already pretty warm for jeans in LA, and a somewhat clinging, light grey blouse. She finished it off with her black bomber jacket, which was, in her opinion, rather hot, but since it wasn’t a really warm jacket, it was more of just a fashion piece.

There was at knock on her door just as she was slipping on some black heel boots, and she nearly stumbled onto the floor as she reached to grab her purse, with her phone, wallet and keys in it. With everything account for, she ran a hand through her hair and rushed over to the door.

When Clarke swung it open, she was nearly taken aback by Lexa, who she had yet to see in full lighting, she realized. The woman’s hair was more of a creamy brown color than the completely dark hue she’d seen in the club. Her eyes, however, were even more piercing green in the light. “Hey,” Lexa said simply, a smile sliding onto her lips as her gaze dropped down to look over Clarke’s appearance. “You look stunning.”

“You too,” Clarke returned, realizing that the woman was the same height as her and was wearing heels of about the same height.

“What?” Lexa asked, realizing that Clarke was staring.

“I thought you were taller,” Clarke commented. “Goes to show how much I pay attention.”

“To be fair,” Lexa said, extending a hand to the blonde, “you were sitting when we met.”

“You’re right, I’ll use that as my excuse.” Clarke smiled, cautiously taking Lexa’s hand.

“Ready to go?” Lexa asked for confirmation, and Clarke nodded. They exited the apartment, Lexa tugging on Clarke’s hand slightly, and the blonde fought a smile. She of course had to release the brunette’s hand in order to lock her apartment, and although they didn’t rejoin hands, Clarke wished they would. Lexa’s hand was soft and warm, and it made Clarke think of how the rest of her skin must feel.

“So where are we going?” Clarke asked as they made their way out of the apartment building.

“It’s a restaurant north of here. I didn’t really feel like trying to drive through downtown all night, so I figured we could stick around here,” Lexa answered. Clarke nodded, not particularly considered about whatever their destination was. She liked food, so she would be fine anywhere. And thankfully, her nerves had slightly died down already.

“So do you work downtown too?”

“Yeah, it’s walking distance from my place actually,” Lexa answered with a nod. “Which is really nice.”

“Does your car not get used often then?”

“Most weekends,” Lexa said with a shrug, leading Clarke to where her car was parked. “Not everyone spends their weekends shut in and working, remember?”

“Oh right, I’m the odd one out,” Clarke agreed with a chuckle.

“What is it that you do that you always have work to do over the weekend anyway?” Lexa wondered. They’d reached her car now, and the brunette opened the passenger door for Clarke first, being chivalrous and making Clarke blush.

“I work at a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged women and girls both in and out of the LA area,” Clarke answered, once Lexa had gotten in the driver’s side of the car. “I’ve been with the organization for most of its existence, I started as an intern when I was in college still.”

“Oh wow. That’s so awesome,” Lexa said, sounding actually impressed. That was usually one of the two responses Clarke got to her job, the other being one of confusion and asking how it was that she made money working for a not-for-profit organization. “That must be so rewarding, getting to help people all the time.”

Clarke felt a smile appearing on her face. “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. I do a lot of the organizational stuff but mostly it’s behind the scenes stuff.”

“What was your degree in?”

“Sociology,” Clarke answered, nodding slowly. “It was pretty interesting. Definitely worth it.”

“Yeah that’s so cool.”

“What do you do?”

“I work at a magazine,” Lexa answered, quirking an eyebrow and looking to the blonde. “Do you follow any magazines?”

“No,” Clarke admitted. She was sure that Lexa had expected that answer, and the smile that appeared on the brunette’s face confirmed that. “That’s cool though. What do you do there?”

“I write columns and do some management stuff.” The second part of the answer was kind of vague, but Clarke didn’t really need to know specifics anyway. She probably wouldn’t know what they were even if Lexa had said them. “I also started off interning there in college, and when I graduated, I got a spot as a full time columnist. I do mostly online stuff now.”

“That’s so cool. I might just have to start following a magazine now so I can read some of your stuff.”

Lexa chuckled. “I’ll send you some later, you can tell me what you think.”

“Do you do any writing other than journalism then?”

“Not really, I always wanted to be a journalist when I was younger, so I never really had any desire to do any other writing. In college I had to write some short stories and poems and yeah, that wasn’t really my thing.”

Clarke smirked. “I can’t imagine what you would write a poem about.”

“I bet I could write a killer one about how stupid pickup lines are.”

“I’d read it.”

“Good to know – this could be my big break, you know?” Clarke laughed at Lexa’s serious tone, eliciting a smile and a quiet chuckle from the brunette as well. “Have you always lived in LA?”

“Yeah, mostly. Well, I was born in San Francisco, but only lived there for about a year. My parents moved to Glendale, because my mom got a job there as a surgeon. When I was about eight, my dad left my mom, though, and he went back up to San Francisco. But I lived in Glendale with my mom until college. I went to USC, and then after college I moved to Los Feliz, and here I’ll probably stay. At least, close to here. My work is just outside of downtown LA.”

“Wow, so you’re a California girl through and through, then? Sorry about your parents, though. That must’ve been hard.”

“I guess. I don’t really see my dad much, he always wants me to come visit him but he refuses to come visit me. Oh – and he’s remarried now.  _ And _ has a kid. I’ve only met his son a handful of times,” Clarke admitted, rolling her eyes. Biting on the inside of her lip, she realized that this was maybe not the best time to get into stuff like that. “Sorry, we don’t have to talk about that. Doesn’t matter.”

“It’s fine,” Lexa said with a shrug. “That’s a lot to deal with. I can’t imagine being in your position.”

“Yeah, but I usually just don’t think about it, and then it basically doesn’t exist. I guess. When I was younger, my mom and I didn’t really talk much, but now that I’m older, we actually talk a lot. So I don’t really care that I’m sort of without one parent, you know?” Lexa nodded that she did, and Clarke realized that she hadn’t heard where Lexa was from. “What about you? You from California originally?”

“Oh no, not me,” Lexa answered with a half-smile. “I’m originally from New York City. Never knew my birth parents, was fostered by one family for a long ass time, thought they were going to adopt me – they thought so too, then their financial situation got fucked up by something or another and it was back into the system for me. Got emancipated when I turned seventeen, worked for a year. Saved up a shit ton of money – or what I thought was a shit ton at the time. Used some of it to apply to a few State University of New York schools and one school in LA – UCLA. Got into UCLA and SUNY Albany, which was really fucking surprising to me, but I guess they really liked my essays. Because I wasn’t a dependent, I got a shit ton of money from the government to go to school, so I used the money I saved up from working to moved to LA, and got all my school paid for.”

“Holy shit. That’s crazy impressive, just… wow. I mean, I could tell that you’re a badass, but that’s seriously awesome.”

Lexa smiled. “You think I’m a badass?”

“Duh.” The smile turned into a smirk. “Oh come on, you always act all badass-y.”

“That’s not a word.”

“Okay Miss Magazine Column Writer. Anyway, I just meant that it’s really awesome that you went from having like… not a lot at all to being successful and all that. There’s only one thing I have an issue with…”

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”

“ _ UCLA _ ? USC is clearly superior.”

Green eyes lit up as Lexa laughed brightly, clearly surprised at the dig. Clarke felt her cheeks turn slightly rosy – it was something about getting Lexa to laugh, it made her feel proud for some reason. She wanted to keep making Lexa laugh – to keep hearing that sound. It was like music. “Whatever you say.” They were quiet for a minute, and then Lexa said, “Thanks, though. Not a lot of people know much about my life in New York – I don’t talk about it a lot.”

“Yeah of course. You don’t have to tell me anything about it, I get it.”

Lexa nodded slowly. “So you’re what, twenty-six?”

“Twenty-five,” Clarke answered, turning slightly despite her seat belt. “You?”

“Twenty-seven,” Lexa replied. That didn’t surprise Clarke, Lexa just seemed more mature somehow. Although, knowing the overview of her backstory now, Clarke was pretty sure that Lexa was probably always that mature. She would’ve had to have grown up really fast when most people were still busy being kids.

That thought made Clarke sad, but she wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. Not now, anyway.

They were pulling up to a small Italian place now. “Alright, here we are,” Lexa said brightly, the heaviness of the previous conversation completely gone from her tone of voice. “I’ve been here a couple of times. And there’s lots of options, so.”

“I told you, I’m not picky,” Clarke reminded her.

“Yeah well, I was trying to be a good date planner anyway, alright?” Lexa shut off the car, hopping out of the driver’s seat and somehow appearing at the passenger side door before Clarke was able to open it herself.

“Are you normally this chivalrous, or are you still trying to be  _ memorable _ ?”

“I’m always this chivalrous, but I’m also always trying to be memorable. Wouldn’t want to be forgotten.”

“Don’t worry, Lexa. You’re pretty unforgettable.”

“You’ve known me for a week,” Lexa said, lifting her eyebrows as she closed the car door behind the blonde, locking the car and leading them up toward the restaurant. “So it would be pretty weird if you’d already forgotten me.”

“I’m just saying,” Clarke defended, “that you definitely stand out.”

“Well, thank you.”

* * *

Dinner was full of much lighter conversation than the car ride. It was beyond easy to talk to Lexa, and Clarke was already becoming addicting to just talking to her. She could listen to her voice and not get bored, and it seemed like she could talk about anything and Lexa would listen like it was the most important thing she’d heard all day. When they were finished eating, it felt like much less time had gone by than had actually, and Clarke felt herself not wanting the date to end.

When they left the restaurant, they both headed to Lexa’s car without a word, but Clarke was desperately trying to think of something to say to somehow indicate that she didn’t want the night to be over already.

Once they were both seated in the car, but before Lexa made any move to pull out of her parking spot, Clarke finally said, “You know, I’ve noticed that you’re a lot less  _ cocky _ tonight than all of our previous conversations.”

Lexa hummed thoughtfully, as if considering the statement with care, and then justified, “Well, I can’t be  _ cocky _ on a first date. That’s how people  _ don’t _ get second ones. And I’m aiming for that second one.” She turned toward Clarke fully, her seatbelt not yet pulled across her body. “But if it turns you on, I can definitely be a little more cocky.”

“Uh, I never said that it turned me on,” Clarke said quickly, lifting her eyebrows.

“You didn’t have to. I can tell that it does. That’s why you keep bringing it up.”

“Are you a psychologist now too, or what?”

Lexa grinned. “Doesn’t sound to me like you’re denying it, Clarke. So it does turn you on then?”

“Never said that.”

Lexa was closer to Clarke’s face now, and the blonde wasn’t sure whether she or Lexa had gravitated more toward the center console of the car, but they were very close. A blue gaze flickered down to look at soft looking, plump lips, and then jumped back up to meet the glowing green gaze. “Admit it,” Lexa murmured. “You think it’s sexy.”

“No.”

“Not buying it, sorry. Your eyes give you away.”

“What if I close them and answer? Does that mean you’ll  _ buy _ my answer?”

Lexa quirked up an eyebrow, and Clarke felt her heart racing at their proximity. “Why don’t you find out?” Clarke thought for a split second, and then she let her eyes flicker closed. She was about to say “No” again – as denial to Lexa’s claims – but before she could even open her mouth, soft lips were pressing against hers.

Clarke’s mind was instantly wiped of any thought from their conversation, completely taken over Lexa’s kiss. Those lips were heavenly, and Lexa knew just how to move them to keep Clarke entranced. And when Lexa’s tongue began to poke out, Clarke gladly let her in. Her left hand rose up to the side of Lexa’s face, tangling into dark locks and keeping herself somewhat steady.

When the kiss started to end, Clarke was the one to rejoin their lips almost immediately. First she was addicted to talking to Lexa, now it was possible that she would be addicted to kissing Lexa, too. Lexa bit down on her bottom lip, and Clarke heard herself make a small noise of satisfaction. Lexa must’ve heard it, too, because she pressed further into the blonde, and Clarke felt herself pressing somewhat uncomfortably against the center console of the car to get closer to the brunette.

It was only when Lexa somehow accidentally pushed the gear shift to neutral, causing the car to jerk slightly, that they abruptly pulled apart, ending the kiss. “Oh shit,” Lexa said, quickly putting it back in park. “Thank fuck for parking brakes.”

Clarke bit down on her lip, which felt a little swollen. “Yeah.” Lexa looked back to the blonde, clearly trying to read how she was feeling. “Wanna go somewhere?”

“Where?” Clarke heard herself asking, even though she knew that she didn’t care.

“Hmm. All I really know that’s in this area of LA is this restaurant, Griffith Park, and…  _ your _ place.”

Clarke’s lips were begging to be pressed against Lexa’s again. She thought of the lingerie she had on under her clothes, and she wondered if Lexa had thought ahead as well. Of course she probably had, and Clarke really wanted to find out. “I like that third option.”

“Yeah?” Lexa asked, reaching for her seatbelt. Clarke copied her movements.

“Yes.”

“Well then. Off to your place we go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, all together now.... "Tori wtf is with this cliff hanger why not just give us the smut right now ughhhh! :("  
> I decided to separate it becauseee like, I'd rather start chapters with stuff like that, because then I feel like it's easier to do it justice? I guess? So yeah, it's the next chapter, I apologize <3  
> So, I'm going to probably write a little more and then watch some more of The Fosters (I'm trying to catch up ughh) and then pass out. But I would like to thank all of you so much for taking time to read this. I appreciate all of your comments so much. Love you all, have a beautiful week!! xx


	4. You Intoxicate Me Like

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Clexa's weekend!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! I'm so sorry that this is out late! I was trying to post it last night, and Ao3 just wouldn't cooperate :( So I am very very sorry for it being late!!  
> Anyway, I won't take up any more of your time before you read lol.
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** “This is so nice,” Lexa said as she followed Clarke into the apartment. It was a pretty homey little place, with a comfy looking couch, a medium sized flat screen TV, a pretty nice kitchen, and a small, round dining table. There was a little hallway that probably led to a bathroom or a laundry room at one end of the living area, and a door that most likely led to Clarke’s bedroom past the kitchen.

“Kinda small, but it’s just me, so never been an issue,” Clarke explained unnecessarily. “The decorations are all courtesy of my friend Octavia. After I lived here for like a year, she claimed that it wasn’t homey enough.” The decorations Clarke was talking about were the sparse picture frames on the walls and the dark curtains that framed the two windows in the living room.

“I like it.” Lexa looked back at the blonde. “Not gonna lie though, I kinda wanna see your room…”

“That can maybe be arranged.” Clarke extended a hand to Lexa, who didn’t hesitate to grab it. She pulled her through the apartment and to the closed door. When she pushed it open, it revealed Clarke’s bedroom. It was more generously filled with things than the main area of the apartment, with a queen sized bed, two nightstands, a dresser, a floor to ceiling mirror, and a desk. It was also full of the sort of clean clutter that Lexa was always impressed with. There were two doors branching off of the bedroom – probably one for the bathroom and one for a closet.

Lexa soaked it all in for a moment. “So cozy,” she said appreciatively.

“Your place less cozy?”

“A little,” Lexa answered, not wanting to go into details. She was still hesitant to mention her penthouse to Clarke, because she could never be sure how people would react. But of course, she had already given Clarke the brief Lexa History Lesson earlier, so she would probably be more impressed than anything. Still, she was hesitant.

“You know, the best part of my room is my bed, though. It’s really comfy.” Clarke informed the brunette, releasing her hand and taking a step backwards toward the bed. “Wanna test it?”

“Hmm, I guess I wouldn’t mind testing it,” Lexa said slowly. “But you know, I usually climb into beds naked – remember, I sleep naked? So I’m not sure I’ll be able to give it a proper rating unless I’m wearing fewer clothes.”

Clarke tilted her head, looking like she was maybe thinking of a proper response. Instead of speaking, though, she lifted her feet one by one and slid off her heeled boots, gently kicking them away. She then looked back at Lexa. “Nothing is stopping you from taking some of those excess clothes off.”

“Mm, you’re not wrong,” Lexa agreed. Keeping her eyes on Clarke, she slipped out of her own heels, once against matching Clarke’s height. But then, rather than start to disrobe herself, she took two steps forward so that she was just in front of the blonde, and she joined their lips together.

Clarke immediately melted against her lips, their unfortunately still clothed bodies melding together easily. But Lexa did want to undress – both herself and Clarke – so she let her hands fall to Clarke’s sides, grabbing the two edges of her jacket and pushing it off of the blonde. Their kiss began to heat up as Lexa had her tongue join the equation, and Clarke began to battle for control, unlike earlier.

Lexa grabbed the hem of Clarke’s blouse, tugging it up between their bodies. The moment they broke apart to get it over Clarke’s head barely lasted a second before their lips were back together. Clarke was now trying to pull of Lexa’s shirt, and the brunette pulled back in order to effectively remove it from her body. That was when she noticed that Clarke was wearing a deep black, lacy bra, perfectly hugging her beautiful breasts. “Fuck,” Lexa heard herself moan out when she noticed. She heard Clarke chuckle, the sound low and sensual.

Lexa forgot about her task of completely undressing Clarke, pushing the blonde backwards onto the bed. As she straddled Clarke across the lap, the other woman slid her hands around to Lexa’s ass, keeping their bodies close. Lexa’s lips dove for Clarke’s breasts, pressing hot, wet kisses along the tops of them. Clarke grunted out, “Just take it off.”

Lexa wasn’t about to ignore that request, and she quickly reached around to unclasp the bra. It fell away somewhere else on the bed, but Lexa wasn’t paying attention. She pushed Clarke into the pillows slightly as she adjusted her position to better bring her lips to Clarke’s boobs. She felt the woman arch her back as Lexa began to bring her mouth close to her nipple.

Meanwhile, Clarke’s hands were moving from Lexa’s ass region to instead her front. They kept pausing as the blonde lost focus due to Lexa’s attention to her nipple, but Lexa definitely noticed when she finally unbuttoned her pants. “Off,” she heard Clarke murmur, and Lexa obeyed. She somewhat dejectedly sat herself up a little, separating herself from Clarke’s wonderful breasts, and began to pull her now unbuttoned pants down. She was also wearing a set of lingerie – only hers was a dark red – and she caught Clarke staring with dark eyes at both her lacy bra and her panties as her final piece of outer clothing was removed.

“You like?” Lexa asked in a low voice, tossing away her pants. She grabbed Clarke hands from where they’d fallen against her own abdomen, intertwining their fingers for a moment in order to move them up to the pillows, pinning them there.

“Mm, you’re very sexy,” Clarke answered. “I’m still wearing pants, though. Don’t you think you should be taking those off?”

“You can’t take them off yourself?”

Clarke smirked, lifting an eyebrow. “You seem to have taken control of my hands, otherwise I would.”

“Hmm… you make a fair point, I guess I don’t mind taking them off.” Lexa released Clarke’s hands in order to unbutton and tug off Clarke’s jeans. Seeing Clarke almost entirely naked made sure that her own panties were soaked, and Lexa couldn’t resist pressing her lips to the insides of Clarke’s thighs.

Clarke let out a quiet moan, and then said, “Mm, maybe we don’t go that far yet…” Lexa immediately pulled up, crawling back up Clarke’s body and stopping when her face was hovering over Clarke’s.

“Whatever you want, beautiful,” she murmured, leaning down and pressing their lips together. They were once again lost in each other’s kiss, and Lexa felt desire throughout her whole body. It took most of her willpower to wait until Clarke initiated moving forward. It didn’t take a long time before Clarke clearly began needing friction. Lexa slipped her thigh in between the blonde’s, feeling the other woman grind against her with desire.

“Ugh,” Clarke groaned against Lexa’s lips, and suddenly her hand was searching for something. Lexa felt it grasp her own hand from where it was on Clarke’s waist, and the blonde shoved it down toward her center as she pulled her lips apart from Lexa’s. “Touch me.”

Lexa obeyed, her hand sliding down between Clarke’s thighs, under her panties. She realized now that Clarke probably just hadn’t wanted her to go down on her, and she figured that was understandable, but she did still slightly hold back as she touched Clarke’s core. It was wet and warm, and she heard Clarke whimper, her hands wrapping around Lexa’s body and her hips thrusting slightly.

Lexa smirked a little, her lips latching onto Clarke’s neck as her fingers began to work against the blonde’s center. The little grunts and gasps the other woman kept releasing were more than enough to encourage Lexa to go faster, but when Clarke started pleading, Lexa practically came from just listening. “Oh god, Lexa, please don’t stop,” Clarke begged. “Oh fuck – oh – please, yes, please –“ After that point, however, Clarke seemed incapable of speech, and her breaths just became shorter and quicker until she finally came, shouting out in ecstasy.

It took a good, long moment for Clarke to recover, Lexa waiting for her breathing to slow before pulling her hand out from the blonde. “Mm,” Lexa hummed out, “I think the bed gets a ten out of ten from me.”

“Yeah?” Clarke murmured, her darkened blue eyes meeting Lexa’s. They were surprisingly filled with determination, considering the tiredness in Clarke’s question.

“Yep. Worked like a charm. I should a bed like this for myself.”

“Oh I’m sure your bed does just fine for fucking people,” Clarke said, voice soft and raspy. Her hands were trailing from Lexa’s back toward her ass, and the brunette was trying to determine the blonde’s next move.

“What makes you so sure?”

“You clearly have a lot of practice.”

“Maybe I don’t usually take women back to my place.”

“I see… commitment issues, or just no time for more than hookups?” The question kind of surprised Lexa, mostly because she couldn’t tell if it was a genuine inquiry or part of the banter.

“Oh I can commit.” Lexa lifted an eyebrow. “And I could make time if I cared enough. I guess I haven’t found anyone in a long while that made me care enough.”

“Shame. I have a feeling that if you did, that woman would be really lucky,” Clarke said, her voice still so soft and gentle. Lexa’s gaze searched the blonde’s face, trying to pick up on what exactly was going through her head, but then she felt strong hands grip the back of her thighs, and shew as suddenly lying against Clarke’s pillows, the blonde above her. She’d been caught off guard due to the compliment, and she nearly cursed at herself for letting that happen, until she realized how hot Clarke was on top of her, her full breasts hanging there and her hair a mess framing her face.

“What are you doing up there?” Lexa heard, more than felt, herself ask.

“What kind of host would I be if I didn’t return the favor?”

Lexa hummed lowly. “Well then I hope you’re ready for a round two, because I did ask  _ you _ out, and so I will be not be the last one coming tonight.”

“I could handle another round,” Clarke insisted, before dipping down and attaching her lips to Lexa’s.

Lexa wasn’t particularly used to being a bottom – she definitely enjoyed being pleasured, but it depended on the person who was topping her. She didn’t always like feeling vulnerable, but somehow, with Clarke, she didn’t really mind. She let herself get lost in the woman’s lips, enjoyed the feeling of Clarke’s hands on her torso, her breasts, her hips. She felt fingertips dance around the edge of her underwear and she wanted it. She wanted Clarke’s fingers inside her, and her lips on her.

This woman, who she’d only known for a  _ week _ , yes, was so easily getting Lexa to give into her, and it was somehow incredible.

Lexa came embarrassingly quickly after realizing this, thinking about how Clarke had already basically undone her. Not to mention that Clarke clearly knew what she was doing. She had Lexa screaming in just a few minutes, and when the brunette came, she actually did need a moment to breathe before once again topping the blonde.

“You bounce back quick,” Clarke said in a quick breath after being pressed back into the pillows.

“Yes, well, you’re very sexy, and I really would like to hear you come again.”

“Very sexy, huh?”

“Incredibly.”

Clarke smirked. “Well thank you. I’ll be sure to add that to my resume.” Lexa chuckled, but rather than answering the blonde, she began her task: make Clarke come again.

* * *

Lexa woke up early, she knew that before she’d even checked the time. It was partly because the window in Clarke’s bedroom was not letting in much light yet, but also because she always woke up early after one night stands. It was possible that she’d trained herself to follow the typical hook-up/walk-of-shame pattern, and now it was a built in response.

But as she stretched her arms up and groaned, her eyes adjusting to the lighting in the room, she realized that she didn’t need to be up this early. She wasn’t going to be doing the walk of shame.

If she did, it would be totally tacky, because she’d actually taken Clarke out on a genuine date the day before. She would’ve become essentially an asshole fuck boy by doing that, and she definitely didn’t want to be one of those. And this wasn’t even a one night stand, she reminded herself as well. At least, she didn’t think it was.

Sitting up, Lexa realized that she was not laying under Clarke’s blankets. She was on top of the comforter, very near the edge of the bed. Next to her, Clarke was curled up under the comforter, facing away from Lexa, her breathing even. She looked very comfortable, and she was right in the middle of the bed.

Lexa considered her options for a few moments, before deciding that she might as well take a risk. She carefully slid her legs under the blanket, scooting closer to Clarke, and pressed her front against the woman’s back. Clarke shifted slightly, and Lexa held her breath, hoping not to wake her up, and Clarke thankfully stayed asleep. Lexa carefully wrapped an arm around the blonde, holding them together, and buried her face in messy, blonde hair. Once in that position, it was very easy for her brain to beat its normal tendencies and usher her back into sleep.

* * *

The next time Lexa woke up, the space in the bed next to her was empty. Bringing a hand up to run through her hair, Lexa turned onto her back, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes. As she started to actually wake up, she heard a voice from the bathroom. “Raven, you have to get out of bed. You and I both know that you plus wallowing is a bad combination. No, but Octavia will. What do you mean? No, I’m not driving all the way down there. She’s closer than I am – okay still. Plus, she’s not doing anything. Alright, but I’m gonna report back to O and she’s gonna show up there whether you want her to or not. Well then get out of bed! Jesus, Raven. Good luck with O, I’ll see you later.”

Clarke’s voice stopped, and the sound of a sink running filled the silence that followed. Lexa rubbed her face, sitting up a little. The blanket fell off of her, exposing her chest, but she just stretched her arms up over her head, not caring.

The blonde suddenly appeared from the bathroom, stopping for a moment in her tracks as she realized that Lexa was awake. “Oh hey, sorry, did I wake you up?” Lexa soaked in the woman in front of her for a moment – she wasn’t as naked as Lexa still was, but she was only wearing an oversized t-shirt that exposed a shoulder. It was just the right length that at first glance, one might think she was also wearing panties, but she definitely wasn’t.

“No, it’s okay. What’s up with your friend?”

Clarke sighed. “Her ex who dumped her last week came back to her place this morning claiming that she left some more things there, so now she’s back to wallowing even though she’s had a mostly positive week.”

“Damn. That’s hell.”

“Yeah. It’s okay, Octavia is going to go drag her ass out of bed.”

“Speaking of bed, what time is it?” Lexa wondered, searching the area for where her phone might’ve gone. Clarke had hers in her hand, though, and she glanced at it quickly.

“Just past noon,” she answered. “We slept a long time.”

“You probably needed it after last night, you were very tired out…”

Clarke narrowed her eyes somewhat challengingly. “Don’t act like you weren’t too. And you slept longer than me.”

“But I woke up earlier, too.”

“And you fell back asleep, so that does say much.” Clarke tossed her phone on the end of the bed and sat next to it, pulling her legs up under her and facing the brunette. “Thanks for last night. The date, I mean.”

“Of course. Beautiful women deserve to go on dates every now and then – even the workaholic ones who haven’t in  _ ages _ .”

Clarke pouted. “Don’t make fun of me.” A smile spread over Lexa’s face and she chuckled. Clarke’s pout was beyond adorable.

“Okay, I won’t. In fact, let me make it up to you… Let me take you out again next weekend?”

“Hmm, I was wondering when you were going to shoot for the second one…”

Lexa smiled again. “I had to make sure the first one was a complete success before asking. Don’t wanna risk getting a no.”

“Well I guess your strategy works then, because I would love to go out with you again next weekend.”

“Saturday?”

“Works for me.”

Lexa was grinning now. “Great, can’t wait.” She slid her legs out from under the blanket now. “I’m gonna use the bathroom, and then I’ll be back out here to kiss you, so don’t go anywhere.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll still be here.”

* * *

When Lexa got back to her place a couple of hours later, she felt an odd sense of loneliness. It was easy to feel lonely in her apartment, but she didn’t usually. And if she did, she’d usually just turn on some music and make some food and she’d feel better, but it felt different today. She would’ve spent the rest of the day at Clarke’s it that were and option, but she knew that she couldn’t occupy the blonde’s whole weekend. Clarke had a life, of course, and she probably had a lot of stuff to do. Plus, she’d said “I’ll see you later” to her friend on the phone, which meant that she probably had plans.

So Lexa had claimed that she needed to leave, when in actuality, she was now seated at one of her barstools, facing away from the kitchen and staring out the windows. She’d never felt so instantly connected with anyone before. She felt like she could talk to Clarke for hours on end without getting bored, and she would do it too. But she’d only known this woman for a week, and it shocked her that it was possible for her to feel this strongly so quickly.

Maybe it was part of getting older, because Lexa knew who she was and what she wanted, and it seemed like Clarke did too. They were basically in the same stage of life too. She kept wondering what the chances were that she met  _ Clarke _ at that bar – Clarke, this incredible woman who she’d had that incredible date with. It completely blew her away.

Suddenly, the vibration of Lexa’s phone shook her out of her thoughts. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, seeing a text from her best friend.

**Anya – Are you back at your place?**

**Lexa – Yes, unfortunately.**

**Anya – How was the blonde?**

**Lexa – Incredible, we have a second date next weekend.**

**Anya – Oh wow, nice. Not surprised you two hit it off. As soon as she saw you at that bar she basically forgot I was even there.**

**Lexa – Well, I am hotter than you, so that might be part of it.**

**Anya – Hah, fuck you.**

**Lexa – Love you too!**

**Anya – Anyway, this wasn’t the point of me texting you. Have you checked the group message with everyone?**

**Lexa – No, I have it muted. What happened?**

**Anya – Sam proposed to Luna yesterday!!**

**Lexa – Oh shit, seriously? I should probably congratulate them then lol.**

**Anya – Yeah, seriously lol. Their engagement party is three weeks from yesterday. So don’t make plans.**

**Lexa – Are you Luna’s maid of honor??**

**Anya – Uh, obviously. We might just be step-sisters, but we’re close enough that she’d be a bitch if she didn’t ask me to be her maid of honor.**

**Lexa – So who’s Sam’s going to be?**

**Anya – Not sure, I think maybe her older sister. We’ll see. That’s what the engagement party is for. Anyway, just wanted to let you know.**

**Lexa – Thanks for telling me. I’ll text them and congratulate.**

**Anya – And RSVP to the party!**

**Lexa – Yeah, yeah okay, I will! Thanks An!**

**Anya – No problem.**

**Lexa – Let’s grab lunch tomorrow?**

**Anya – I’ll be there.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked this update!! :D I'm on spring break right now so I'm gonna try and write a lot before I go back to campus on Friday night. Also I got a haircut today and I'm obsessed with it (if you wanna see pics, there are some on my Twitter @BrittzandTana) :D ALSO also, lol, I'm gonna see Love, Simon before I go back to school! I'm hyped :)  
> I would like to thank you all for spending a little bit of your day here reading my story! I appreciate each and every one of you! :D Feel free to leave any comments you'd like, or hmu on Twitter!! Have a lovely week!!


	5. Every Look, Every Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The week between the first two Clexa dates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry lovelies - yes part of chapter 5 was missing. When I write this in Word, it corrects some smiley faces to little emojis, and if I don't delete those when I copy it to Ao3, it glitches and won't display past one. I thought I removed them all, but I didn't, agh that's what I get for trying to update when I'm sleep deprived lol.
> 
> Here's the full thing, enjoy!! xx

“So, how was the date?” Octavia asked, flopping onto her own bed, where Clarke was already seated, her legs crossed. The brunette had been in the shower when Clarke had shown up – but being the crazy person she was, she’d run out of the shower to go let Clarke in. She hadn’t even attempted to cover up before doing so, either.

“It was actually really amazing,” Clarke admitted, leaning against Octavia’s headboard. “We got food and it’s so easy to talk to her. Then she came back to my place.”

“And you guys fucked all night?”

“Well, for some of the night.”

“And she didn’t walk of shame you?”

Clarke shook her head. “No, she slept until like noon actually. She left around two – we had coffee and talked some more beforehand. And we’re going out again next Saturday.”

Octavia grinned. “That’s so exciting. When do I get to meet her?”

“I don’t know? When it becomes important enough, _if_ it does,” Clarke supposed, shrugging. “So how was Raven earlier?”

The smile dropped off of Octavia’s face and she sighed. “Fine, I guess. She was up by the time I got over there, but she was in a pretty shitty mood. Which is fair, I guess. Zara basically stormed through her living room claiming that her extra charger was there somewhere, and ended up leaving empty handed since she obviously hadn’t left anything there. She was basically just trying to be like ‘Hey Raven, don’t forget me and how I royally fucked you over!’”

“That’s so annoying. I honestly want to call Zara and tell her to fuck off, but also I don’t think she deserves any of us acknowledging her crazy,” Clarke said with a sigh. “It’s just so hard seeing Raven have such a hard time.”

“I mean they were together for a while, you know?” Octavia frowned. “Shit, it’s so weird thinking that the like, longest lasting relationship that any of the three of us have had just ended, though. Like it makes love feel hopeless.”

“Don’t say that. My mom might have to kill you.”

“Abby would never kill me,” Octavia insisted. “Anyway. It’s not like I actually believe that. It’s just… sad.”

Clarke nodded, rolling her shoulders back. “I haven’t told my mom that I had a date yesterday… I’m worried that she’s going to ask me too many questions or jump to conclusions and I don’t want to have that talk. Am I bad daughter?”

“It’s one date, Clarke,” Octavia said with an eyeroll. “If you start actually dating this Lexa – like exclusively – then you’d be a shitty daughter for not telling your mom. But one date… that’s fine, you don’t have to tell her. I don’t even talk to my mom near as much as you talk to yours, so you’re doing better than me.”

“Okay yeah, you’re right,” Clarke agreed with a nod. “I need to chill.”

“Yes, you always need to chill. I’m surprised that you getting laid didn’t help that much either.”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “Fuck you.”

“Wow, you really are still horny. Are you sure the sex was that good?”

“You’re too much,” Clarke said with an eyeroll.

Octavia grinned. “So, wanna get some food?”

“Actually, I need to catch up on some work since I didn’t do any yesterday, so I might just order a pizza and pick it up on my way home,” Clarke said with a shrug.

“Can’t we just order pizza to here, share it, and then you go back to your place and be boring? C’mon, it’s the weekend. And don’t even say _catch up_ on work – I know what you actually mean is getting ahead on work.”

Clarke sighed. “Okay, fine. Let’s order a pizza.”

* * *

**Lexa – Hey, gorgeous. How was your day?**

By the time Clarke read this message – which was a little while after Lexa had sent it – she was at home, sitting on her couch with a box of takeout from a place she’d stopped by on her way back from work. She had considered texting Lexa earlier, but since she’d been at work, she figured that she would just do it that night. But Lexa had beaten her to it.

**Clarke – Hello :) It was pretty average honestly. How was yours?**

**Lexa – Same, I got lunch with Anya though which was nice. That said, I have a feeling that talking to you is going to be the best part of my day. ;)**

**Clarke – Hmm well, I’m happy to help make your day better haha.**

**Lexa – I didn’t interrupt your random working after work time, did I?**

**Clarke – Hah, no, don’t worry. I’m just eating takeout :P**

**Lexa – What kind of takeout?**

**Clarke – It’s from an Italian place near my work haha, just some pasta and salad.**

**Lexa – Why not just make your own pasta at your place?**

**Clarke – I don’t really cook haha. Or well, I can’t really. Curse from my mom. Anything I make turns out shit.**

**Lexa – Whaaat no, this is tragic. You have to let me make you dinner sometime then. I love cooking, and I especially love cooking pasta.**

**Clarke – I guess I might be okay with that at some point. ;) We’d probably have to do that at your place though, because my kitchen is seriously lacking in… any sort of cooking supplies.**

**Lexa – Hmm… dually noted.**

**Lexa – Question: do you have any experience with engagement parties? Are people supposed to bring gifts to them?? Two of my friends just got engaged and I just realized that I have no idea how engagement parties work.**

**Clarke – Um I don’t really have any experience with them, no, but I think it’s like, dependent on how well you know them? Like if you’re really close to them, you probably should bring something small?**

**Lexa – So that probably includes my best friend’s step sister then?**

**Clarke – Haha, probably yes.**

**Lexa – Great, so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next couple of weeks for gifts then. If I can’t find anything I guess I’ll just steal half of Anya’s present and pretend it’s mine.**

**Clarke – Wow, what an incredible gift giver you are, huh?**

**Lexa – I’m better at sentimental gifts than monetary gifts I think…**

**Clarke – Then get her something sentimental? I think the actual wedding is when you’re expected to get something like more substantial.**

**Lexa – Oh shit yeah**

**Lexa – If you couldn’t tell, I don’t really know very much about weddings. I’ve actually never been to one, now that I think about it.**

**Clarke – I don’t know much either, to be honest. I went to my dad’s wedding when he got remarried, and that’s the only one I’ve ever been to. And it was sooo awkward. I was like, fourteen at the time, and all of his wife’s family was there, and it was just uncomfortable.**

**Lexa – Yeah that does not sound like a pleasant wedding experience.**

**Lexa – I think I’ll have a weird perspective on this wedding because I won’t be** **_in_ ** **it, but Anya is the maid of honor, so I’ll probably be like, basically involved in it anyway. Should be interesting.**

**Clarke – Haha that could be fun – witnessing all the bridesmaid drama but not being in it**

**Lexa – Oh shit, is bridesmaid drama going to be a thing? LOL then I’m definitely glad I won’t be in it.**

**Clarke – I don’t know, I feel like that’s a thing that happens in movies?**

**Lexa – Haha I guess I’ll find out through Anya and I’ll let you know so we can both learn the ins and outs of weddings. :D**

**Clarke – Thanks, I guess I’ll need all that knowledge at some point**

**Lexa – Duh. So enough about my friends! What about your friends? How’s your friend who got dumped?**

Clarke was done eating by this point, and she got up and tossed the takeout box into the trash. She headed into her bathroom to start cleaning her face and getting ready to shower, because she needed to sleep pretty soon if she was going to get up on time for work in the morning. Before doing so, though, she answered Lexa’s text.

**Clarke – I mean, she’s surviving. I’m usually all for taking time to grow and self-reflect after getting out of a relationship, but the fact that she hasn’t completely bounced back yet makes me think that she just needs to get laid or maybe just start dating people.**

Clarke didn’t see Lexa’s response until she was about ready to get in the shower, at which point she leaned against the wall in the bathroom with her phone, ready to finish out this conversation before excusing herself to shower and then sleep.

**Lexa – Sounds like you need to drag her out on the town a few more times then, haha.**

**Clarke – I’ll make Octavia do it. I’d probably get bored too fast.**

**Lexa – Hmm, yes that would be unfortunate. Plus, if you go out too much, how will you do all your extra work over the weekend???? :O**

**Clarke – Very funny lol.**

**Lexa – I know, I’m very entertaining ;)**

**Clarke – Hmm, maybe.**

**Lexa – You don’t completely agree??? You seemed to agree on Saturday… yesterday even. Maybe you need me to come over and remind you of how entertaining I am?**

**Clarke – That could potentially jog my memory yeah… except probably not tonight. I have a meeting I have to go to tomorrow that isn’t at my office so I have to leave earlier than normal :(**

**Lexa – God dammit. Alright. :(**

**Clarke – If it makes you feel better, think of how much reminding I’ll need by our date on Saturday….**

**Lexa – Oh, you’re right… this could potentially be a good thing then…**

**Clarke – Yes, potentially. We’ll have to make the best of it on Saturday.**

**Lexa – Sounds like a plan!**

**Clarke – So although I don’t want to leave you hanging, I should probably shower and get to sleep…**

**Lexa – Yeah, probably… I’ll let you go then.**

**Lexa – Hope you have a fun shower ;)**

**Clarke – Get your mind out of the gutter, I’m just gonna shower.**

**Lexa – Alright, if you say so… just you know, don’t think of anyone naked or anything like that… probably safer if you don’t think about this weekend…**

**Clarke – Lol, goodnight Lexa**

**Lexa – Goodnight, Clarke!**

Clarke let out a quiet chuckle, setting her phone down on the counter and turning on the shower and beginning to strip down. Of course, thanks to Lexa’s comments, having a plain old shower would be damn near impossible now. As she stepped under the hot water, she let it rush over her and her eyelids fell closed.

Lexa flashed through her head, as if projected onto the inside of her eyelids. She recalled Saturday in vivid details and felt herself sigh. Pursing her lips, Clarke let her hand drop between her legs.

* * *

Clarke was up bright and early, knowing that she would have to drive further into downtown to get to her meeting. That meant extra traffic, too, which was really her motivation for getting up and leaving earlier than usual. She put some effort into her appearance – perhaps a bit more than usual – for the occasion, it helped her feel more professional.

However, she had another different motivation to look good as well. She wasn’t exactly sure in which building Lexa worked every day, but she knew that it was probably close to wherever Clarke was going to be. She was hoping to get done with her meeting right around lunch time, and Lexa would be her first text upon getting out of it.

She wasn’t sure if it was completely normal – how badly she wanted to spend time with the woman. It had been a while since she’d felt this way about anyone. It was so easy for her to get lost in her thoughts, thinking about Lexa and wondering when she would next see her.

So rather than let these thoughts constantly bug her throughout the day, she figured that she’d do something about it.

Her meeting went pretty well, she managed to get a good plan for an event that the nonprofit was really excited about. Feeling good and confident, she grabbed her phone as she leaned against the wall of the building she’d just exited.

**Clarke – Hey, have you gotten lunch yet by chance?**

The response took a surprisingly short amount of time – Lexa’s typing bubble popped up almost instantly.

**Lexa – No, I have not… why, have you?**

**Clarke – No, I haven’t. And I’m pretty sure I’m in your neighborhood right now, so I thought maybe you’d grab lunch with me?**

**Lexa – Hmm, where would we be going?**

**Clarke – Wherever is close that you wanna go to.**

**Lexa – Well, that’s a pretty decent offer… I’ll have to compare it to all of my others, though.**

**Clarke – Oh really? How many others are there?**

**Lexa – A couple.**

**Clarke – So how do I measure up? And what can I do to get the edge?**

**Lexa – You’re pretty high up in the list actually. I think the last thing you’ll have to do is give me kiss insurance.**

**Clarke – Kiss insurance?**

**Lexa – It’s simple really. You owe me a kiss – it’s okay if you don’t give it to me today, but you’ll gain interest of one kiss per day that goes by after today.**

**Clarke – That’s a pretty huge interest rate, I’ve gotta say.**

**Lexa – Well, you asked how to get the edge…**

**Clarke – Hmm… well, the more I think about it, the more doable I think that should be. Fine. Kiss insurance it is. Do we have a deal?**

**Lexa – Deal! Alright, send me your location, I’ll tell you what’s good in between us.**

Clarke knew there was a grin spread over her face, and she was glad that people on the sidewalks were too busy too notice or care. She sent her location in the text thread with Lexa. It took a couple of minutes for the brunette to reply with a suggestion of a small café they could meet at, and off Clarke went toward the place.

It was a pretty short walk, and when she got there, she didn’t spot Lexa anywhere inside. She was unsure for a moment as to whether she should just order her food now and wait for Lexa. There were a couple of other people also in line to get food, so she stood behind the last person and glanced down at her phone. She had a text from Lexa saying that she was headed to the café, and that was from while she’d been walking, so she wasn’t exactly sure when the brunette would show up.

It was a couple of minutes later, when the line had almost moved all the way forward, that the door to the café opened behind her and she turned to see a certain brunette walking into the café.

And holy shit, if Clarke wasn’t already blown away by Lexa, she definitely was now. Lexa was wearing a black pantsuit, her hair falling around to frame her face in slightly neater curls than during the weekend. She looked professional yes, which was obviously the point, but Clarke’s first thought was of how badly she wanted to tear the clothes off of the woman.

“Hey,” Lexa was saying brightly, seemingly unaware of how flawless she looked. “It’s weird seeing you during the work week. I guess I expected you to chain yourself to a desk so that people couldn’t pull you away from working.” Her words were, of course, teasing, and Clarke had to pull herself out of the trance that Lexa’s appearance had put her in.

“Yeah well, I unchained myself so I could have some time to see you,” Clarke said, batting her eyelashes at the woman playfully.

“Ooh, I feel like this has leveled me up somehow,” Lexa mused, lifting her eyebrows. “I’m worth taking a break from work.”

“You are,” Clarke agreed, a blush creeping onto her own cheeks as she somewhat revealed, albeit playfully, how drawn to the brunette she was. “Plus, I was at a meeting near here, and I don’t need to be back at the office for a little while.”

“Well, I’m honored that you decided to share your free time with me,” Lexa said with a wink, then nodding past Clarke. “I think it’s your turn to order.”

Clarke turned, realizing that the man at the counter was waiting expectantly for her to step up and order. The blonde shook thoughts of Lexa away for a moment so that she could think clearly enough to order, but as she was paying, she could practically feel Lexa’s gaze on her back. She began to overanalyze what she was wearing – business casual as well, but she definitely didn’t look as sexy as Lexa – until she decided that if Lexa was checking her out, it probably had less to do with clothes and more to do with just Clarke herself. That seemed like just how Lexa was.

Once she paid, she stepped aside to allow Lexa to order, and once the brunette had done so as well, they took a seat at a little table against the wall of the café. “So,” Lexa said once they were seated, “I keep meaning to ask you if you have any input on what we do this weekend.”

“Why, what are you thinking?”

“I don’t know, I’m trying to be a good date planner but I’m not sure that I know you well enough to just pick something without getting your input,” Lexa insisted, lifting her right eyebrow a little. “So any ideas? I have a few, but some of them involve in a bit of a drive for a Saturday night.”

“Like what?”

“Well, they’re showing Black Panther at the Paramount Drive-In theater, and I really wanted to see it. But on a Saturday night the drive will probably be kind of long – of course I’ll drive us, so I’m down if you’re down. And I don’t know how you feel about movies for dates, so I wasn’t going to just pick that without asking.”

“That sounds fine to me,” Clarke agreed with a shrug. “I haven’t been to a drive-in theater in… I don’t know, years.”

“I go every now and then, I think it’s more relaxed then a normal theater,” Lexa said, smiling softly. “Cool, so I’ll have to pick you up earlier then and we can grab takeout and bring it with us so we’re not starving all night. If we wanna do something after… well, I guess we can figure that out then?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that both of us will want to do _something_ after.” Clarke looked at Lexa with slightly widened, innocent eyes, and the brunette let out a laugh.

“Alright, yes, you make a fair point. So, that. Sounds like we have a full proof date plan now.”

Clarke grinned. “Sounds like it.”

One of the café employees suddenly appeared with their coffees and the food they’d ordered, and after a quick thank you to him, Clarke and Lexa both began eating. It was quiet between them while they ate, but it was an easy quiet that didn’t feel uncomfortable. Clarke kept an eye on the time, knowing that she did have other work she needed to get done. She was also very much aware that it was going to be difficult to willingly leave Lexa when her mind had plenty of other ideas to do.

“So, what’s your plan for the rest of the day? Work and then sleep?” Lexa wondered as they finished up.

“Yeah basically,” Clarke confirmed, sighing a little. “My exciting life, right?”

“Hey, that’s life,” Lexa reasoned. “Although it’s definitely never a bad thing to take a break and do something exciting. Which is what the weekend is for.”

“I guess you’re right…”

“Tell you what though, I didn’t really think my life would be anything like this when I was like, in high school,” Lexa said with a shrug. “If I hadn’t gotten into college, the plan was basically to try and somehow travel a lot and, I don’t know, work random jobs to make enough money to get around.”

“But then college,” Clarke finished unnecessarily.

Lexa nodded. “Yeah. Obviously I’m glad that’s how it all worked out – would’ve been a lot different otherwise. But yeah, sometimes when I’m working a lot and not doing much else, I wonder if life should be more exciting. But like, it’s the little things that are supposed to be great. And working pays for those little things, so.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Clarke nodded slowly. She glanced back at the time and sighed. “I should probably get going.”

Lexa deflated a bit – only slightly, making Clarke think that she didn’t want it to be noticeable. But Clarke did notice, and it made her want to blow off work and hang out with Lexa. Of course, it wasn’t like Lexa would be able to do that either. The thought of having a quickie ran through Clarke’s mind, but she knew that would probably not be a good idea either. “Okay, yeah… I should probably be getting back soon, too. This was nice, though. Too bad you don’t work downtown every day.”

“Yeah… well, maybe we can figure a way to do it again at some point,” Clarke suggested with a smile.

“Well, I would definitely not be opposed.”

Clarke smiled wider now, piling her garbage on the little tray that her food had been brought on. She quickly went and tossed her trash, and then she came back to the table. Lexa had stood now as well. “But oh, before I forget.” Green eyes turned to meet Clarke’s, but they flickered closed as Clarke pressed her lips to Lexa’s, the blonde’s hand moving to Lexa’s shoulder. The kiss was soft and sweet, mostly because Clarke tried her best to not allow it to get heated, despite how badly she wanted Lexa right now. When she pulled away, Clarke said, “I did ensure you a kiss.”

“I was hoping you’d forget,” Lexa said, lifting an eyebrow, “so you could owe me more kisses.”

“I don’t think you need _kiss insurance_ to get kisses from me Lexa. Plus…” Clarke glanced down slightly, her hand dragging down Lexa’s sleeve. “It’d be pretty hard to forget to kiss you when you’re dressed like that.” When her gaze returned to Lexa’s, she noticed immediately that her green eyes had darkened considerably. “I’ll see you this weekend Lexa.”

“You’re mean,” Lexa huffed out as Clarke stepped around the woman. Clarke just glanced back at Lexa, tossing her a wink.

She walked back to where her car was parked, smirking at the thought that Lexa might be distracted from work for the rest of the day, and very aware that she would be in the same boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I appreciate you all so much for being here and reading this. Love you guys. I hope you all have a fantastic week. Follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana :) xx


	6. Take Me All The Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa have another date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100% honesty: the reason for this updating taking forever is because it wasn't written in its entirety until this past Sunday. :( I've had the weirdest couple of weeks - they'd been super busy and stressful and I've been kind of all over the place. I'm doing a bit better now, with midterms officially over, but finals are creeping up pretty quickly, so I'll do my best to keep updating regularly through it all. That said, since this is a midweek update, I may not be able to update again on Sunday. So look out for next Thursday or Sunday, depending how much I can crank out between now and then. I do have quite a bit I need to do this weekend and next week, but I should be able to work in some good writing time as well. Again, I'm sorry for being way more unreliable about update times than normal. College is a loooot of work, as I'm sure some of you know.  
> [Totally unrelated but super exciting: I MET ELIZA LAST WEEKEND AT FAN EXPO DALLAS!! I go to school in Dallas, so it was only an hour away, and thanks to one of my fab friends/readers/followers, I was able to go meet her!! It was fucking amazing and I love her so fucking much and omfg. Anyway haha the pic I got with her is on my Twitter @BrittzandTana :D ]
> 
> Anyway!  
> Enjoy!!xx

**** Lexa woke up Saturday morning with bright eyes, because her first thought was that she was going to see Clarke that night. It was strange that the blonde was the very first thing on Lexa’s mind, but she supposed that it made sense. Her life had definitely been way less routine and more exciting since she met Clarke, even if only by a small margin.

She was definitely excited to go to the drive in theater, but to be honest, she would have fun with Clarke no matter what they were doing. And that was why she didn’t really mind driving them the slight distance to the drive in. Talking to Clarke was entertaining enough to make the driving worth it.

There was just something about the blonde that made Lexa want to open up – for no reason. Sure, she’d casually mentioned some stuff about her past to her, but that was a strange thing for Lexa to do so shortly after meeting someone. That said, of course she hadn’t divulged each and every thing about her to the woman yet.  _ Yet _ .

About half an hour after Lexa had dragged herself out of bed and started getting ready for the day, her phone started ringing. Her first thought – which made her light up slightly – was that it was Clarke, and she reached for the device eagerly. Once she realized that it was not Clarke, but rather Anya, she deflated slightly. Nevertheless, she answered the call.

“What’s up?”

“I’m going to kill Justina.”

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. “Who’s Justina?”

“Sam’s sister. Like, Sam as in Luna’s fiancé?”

“Yeah I know who Sam is, dumbass,” Lexa answered with a roll of her eyes. “What did Justina do?”

“So I guess she’s never thought about what it would be like when her gay sister got married, because she seems to think that each group of us should be intertwined. Which is stupid. Groomsmen and bridesmaids don’t really plan things together. Like, I figured that there will be separate bachelorette parties, for example, and Justina is saying that we need to like, unite. Which basically defeats the purpose of having separate maids of honor.”

“I mean, her logic doesn’t  _ not _ make sense. What do Luna and Sam want?”

“We’re meeting up to talk to them later today, just to make sure we’re all on the same page. Anyway, if that’s what they want, then fine, but Justina doesn’t get to act like she’s in charge just because  _ she’s _ married already. Ugh.”

Lexa smirked. “Oh, so the real reason you’re mad is because she’s trying to outdo you as a maid of honor?”

“Uh, bitch, no? I just totally did not sign up for this drama.”

“Yeah, because if you’d known that all the drama would come with it, you obviously would’ve refused to be Luna’s maid of honor,” Lexa said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Okay yeah, obviously not. But I can still be pissed about this. Ugh. Luna’s gonna be pissed at me if this gets worse, so Justina better back the fuck off after we talk later.”

Lexa rolled her eyes. “Well, good luck with that.”

“Wanna grab dinner later with us by the way? I’m not sure I can handle being out with just Luna, Sam, and Justina. Like, I obviously love Sam like a sister, but  _ her _ sister… it makes it like, third wheeling but with an additional extra wheel that has an insane streak.”

“Sorry, can’t. I’ve got a date.”

“Oh, shit, right. With – what’s her name again? The blonde one?”

“Clarke.”

“Yeah, her? So you guys getting serious then?”

“We’ve only been out two times,” Lexa said, although the real answer she wanted to give was  _ hopefully _ . “But I mean, it’s going well.”

“Well, if you guys are still  _ going well _ in the next two weeks, you should bring her as your date to the engagement party.”

“Oh – dates to the engagement party are a thing?”

“Of course, it’s a party, Lexa. Even I have a date.”

“What? You do? Who?” Lexa demanded, immediately feeling betrayed from having been left out of the loop.

“Well, I  _ will _ . By the time of the party. I’m not about to feel all alone at a party surrounding a couple. Especially since fucking Justina is married – I can’t be there alone. Although, whoever goes as my date is gonna have to be chill with me running around organizing things – because I’m taking this job very seriously.”

“So that you can outdo Justina.”

“No, so that I can be a good sister, Lexa, geez.” Anya huffed. “Alright well, have fun on your date later. Tell the blonde chick I say hi.”

“Her name is Clarke.”

“Yeah, yeah. Bye, Lexa.”

“Yeah, bye,” Lexa returned, rolling her eyes. This whole wedding situation was definitely going to be interesting – and she wasn’t even a bridesmaid.

* * *

Lexa started to the front door of Clarke’s apartment complex. The building was, obviously, smaller than her own, but it was much more intimidating to Lexa, because inside of it was the beautiful blonde who she couldn’t stop thinking about. The longer she talked to and was around Clarke, she more difficult she found it to maintain her cool, and she kept thinking she was going to explode into a bunch of sappy emotions.

But this was only their second official date, so she still needed to be calm, cool, and all that jazz.

Pushing the door of the complex open, she started to Clarke’s apartment door. She thought back to the previous Saturday, to laying in Clarke’s bed all night. Smiling slightly to herself, she wondered if that’s how she’d be ending the day today. She really hoped it was – but she, of course, would not be making that assumption.

When she reached Clarke’s apartment, she paused for a breath, and then knocked on the door. After only a few seconds, it swung open to reveal Clarke, dressed in dark, tight fitting jeans and a white button up. Not fancy or anything, since they were only going to a drive in theater, but still that perfectly fitted look that made Lexa want to tear the clothes  _ off _ . Although, she’d probably want to do that no matter what.

“Well hello, beautiful,” she heard herself saying as she soaked in Clarke’s appearance.

“Hello to you too,” Clarke returned, chuckling through the smile that had spread across her face since opening the door. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

Lexa stepped back to allow Clarke out of her apartment, and the blonde quickly locked up. “How was your Saturday?”

“Pretty uneventful – for once. No Raven drama, which was nice. Went jogging this morning and that’s always refreshing,” Clarke answered thoughtfully. “How was yours?”

“Also mostly uneventful – aside from Anya calling me with her first bit of maid of honor drama,” Lexa said, lifting an eyebrow as they started out of the apartment building.

Clarke smirked. “I  _ told _ you that would happen,” she said proudly, making a face that was probably supposed to look jokingly haughty as well, but Lexa mostly just thought it was super cute.

“Mm, yes you did,” she agreed. “So, are you excited for Black Panther?”

“I heard really good things about it,” Clarke said with a nod, “and I never really go out to see movies anymore, so yes.”

“Yeah, I think the last movie I saw in theaters was almost a year ago if I’m being honest,” Lexa admitted. “Luna used to try and drag me and Anya to see movies with her and Sam, but Anya doesn’t like movie theaters – there’s a whole backstory there – so it would just be me third wheeling Luna and Sam, and I’m not a fan of third wheeling.”

“Is anyone, though?” Clarke justified. They reached Lexa’s car and the brunette unlocked it to allow them both to climb into their respective seats. “Thanks for driving, by the way. I know traffic through LA is always hell. That’s why I like not working in the middle of downtown.”

“You’re welcome, I don’t mind driving in good company,” Lexa flashed the blonde a sweet smile as she turned on the car. She pulled the car out of its spot and off they went, and at the same time, Clarke’s phone began ringing.

“Oh, it’s my mom,” Clarke said, looking like she was thinking about hitting ignore.

“Go ahead and take it, I can wait,” Lexa quickly got out before she could do so. Clarke flashed her a grateful smile and answered the call, bringing her phone to her ear.

“Hey mom, what’s up?”

Lexa was prepared to hear one side of the conversation, but due to the silence in the car and presumably Clarke’s phone volume, she could hear Clarke’s mom on the other end of the phone call. She felt suddenly like she was invading the blonde’s privacy, but there really was nothing she could do about it, so she pretended like she wasn’t listening as she continued driving. “Hey sweetie, I’m planning another lunch next Saturday, do you think you can make it?”

“Oh yeah, sure,” Clarke agreed. “What time? Eleven thirty again?”

“I pushed the time to noon because Daya can’t make it at eleven thirty – her son has something in the morning. But you’re still welcome to come early – at least that way you’d be on time,” the woman responded with a little laugh. Lexa saw Clarke rolled her eyes, a smile on her face, in her peripheral vision. She tried not to smile so as not to make it clear that she could definitely hear the whole conversation.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll be there,” Clarke agreed. “I shouldn’t be late. I’ll probably just be hiking that morning anyway.”

“Okay. And oh – I’m on the fence about inviting Chris – you remember him? Not to try and set you two up again, of course, but just because he’s free and he’s a nice guy. But I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything – and I definitely don’t want you to think that I’m trying to –“

“Mom,” Clarke interrupted, and Lexa couldn’t help but snicker at this point – and the blonde definitely saw her. “I don’t care, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Alright, well… I’ll think about it then. So. What are you up to?”

“Actually, I’m kinda busy right now, do you mind if I call you tomorrow?” Clarke asked quickly.

“Oh! Of course, dear, my bad. Love you, have a good night.”

“Love you too, mom.” Clarke hung up the phone, and then she looked at Lexa with a mildly disturbed expression. “You heard all that, didn’t you?”

“Maybe,” Lexa admitted with a chuckle. “Now that I think about it, I do remember you saying that she was trying to set you up with people.”

“Yeah, I told her she didn’t have to do that,” Clarke said lightly. “At least she’s trying to be more considerate about it now. And it wasn’t really all that bad before. Just like… we’d sit down for lunch, and she’d make a point of introducing me to whatever young, doctor she’d met this time.”

“So what then? Doctors aren’t your type?”

“Guess not. Weird, right? You’d think, since I’m about as much of a workaholic as a surgeon or something.”

Lexa laughed. “Well, I guess the universe is trying to tell you that you should end up with someone who’s less of a workaholic than you – or at least not  _ more so _ . Or else how will you ever pull yourself away from your job?” Clarke chuckled, and Lexa continued, “But, I can’t say that I’m mad that you aren’t super into doctors.”

Clarke grinned. “Honestly, not sure that jobs have any play in how much I like someone at all. Except well…”

Lexa glanced at Clarke as the blonde drifted off, lifting an eyebrow. “Except what?”

“Well, maybe work attire does play a part. I mean, you looked  _ really _ good when we met up for coffee…”

“Right,” Lexa remembered, a smirk growing on her face. “I’ve gotta jot that down, could give me the edge one day.”

“I mean, but I guess you look pretty hot in whatever you wear.”

“Well thanks, but I’m still convinced that the suit gave me the up,” Lexa insisted. Clarke smiled a little, a blush creeping to her cheeks as she glanced out the window. “So! Food.”

* * *

They ended up getting Chinese takeout at a place close to the drive in, and they got to the theater just as the movie was starting. Lexa parked her car, turned on the radio to get the movie sound, and they started eating.

Clarke did her best to pay attention to what was happening in the movie, but every now and then, she or Lexa would make a side comment about it and get swept up into conversation. It was almost too easy to talk to the brunette – about literally anything. They talked about some of their favorite movies – both superhero ones and others – and that led into trading a few childhood stories. They could go from laughing and joking to talking seriously in a matter of seconds.

By the end of the movie, Clarke was sure that she’d collectively missed about half of it, but she didn’t really mind. She’d watch it again later some other time. What mattered was that she’d gotten to spend time with Lexa, and honestly, it seemed like lately, nothing was much better than that.

“So, should we head back?” Lexa asked, as other cars around them started pulling out of the drive in.

Clarke turned a little so that she was facing the brunette more head on. “To mine?”

“If you want to,” Lexa clarified, seeming slightly confused about what Clarke meant by the question.

“I want to… if you want to.” Clarke lifted her eyebrows slightly at the brunette, who finally seemed to understand.

“Hmm… actually, give me a second to check my schedule – I might not have time to fit you in tonight…”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure you scheduled some extremely important meetings for ten thirty on a Saturday night.”

“Hey, some people have weird schedules,” Lexa claimed, putting her car in reverse and starting to pull out of the drive in as Clarke buckled herself back in. “But as it seems, I’m not one of those people. And let’s be honest, even if I were,  _ as if _ I’d turn down spending time with you.”

The drive back was just as pleasant as the drive up, although traffic was slightly better than earlier, since it seemed like plenty of people had found their spots for the night and stopped there – at least until they needed to drag their asses home later. But the drive flew by, as if it was only ten or fifteen minutes, and there wasn’t a gap in conversation the whole way back to Clarke’s apartment.

When they got there, they didn’t go straight into the bedroom – although Lexa had half expected the blonde to pull her in there. Instead, the woman gave her a small smile. “Wine?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. Are you going to try and take advantage of me?” Lexa asked playfully, leaning against Clarke’s kitchen counter as the blonde went over to her fridge.

“I could never do such a thing,” Clarke denied furiously, while of course still playing around.

“I’d love a glass,” Lexa said softly, a smile spreading across her face.

“Red or white?”

“Guess.”

“I wanna say red,” Clarke answered, looking over her shoulder at the beautiful woman.

“Why red?”

“Don’t know. You seem classy enough that you could tough out the bitter,” Clarke claimed.

Lexa smirked, not answering just yet. “I take it that you’re a white wine kind of woman then?”

“I can do both.” Clarke quirked up an eyebrow as Lexa chuckled. “So what’ll it be, Lexa? Red or white?”

“White,” Lexa admitted. “With hard alcohol I can tough almost anything. But with wine I’m a baby. I need the sweet shit.”

Clarke laughed now, and despite feeling slightly laughed at, Lexa couldn’t help but smile in response. Clarke’s laugh was just so bright and happy that she wouldn’t be able to feign offense if she wanted to. “That’s cute,” Clarke commented, grabbing a bottle of some kind of white wine from the fridge. She then grabbed two glasses from one of the cabinets and filled each a decent amount before passing one to the brunette. “I prefer white, if I’m honest. But I like red with the right meal.”

“Fair enough,” Lexa said, taking the glass. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Clarke took a sip from her glass and Lexa did the same, all too aware of how a blue gaze was stuck on her. “Thanks for taking me to the movie. It really was nice to actually go see one for once.”

“Don’t mention it,” Lexa insisted. “I’m starting to really like helping you get out more.” It was said teasingly of course, but Lexa hoped that Clarke could read the more serious message behind it. Honestly, Lexa was about ready to start pouring out her feelings, but it didn’t feel like the right time. Neither she nor Clarke had been in a relationship in a while, and what if the blonde really was just wanting casual dating? What if, for her, the feelings just weren’t all there?

Of course, Lexa knew that the only way to find out one way or the other was to ask. And she would – but not right now. She really wanted another night with Clarke – in case an admission of feelings halted this… thing between them in its tracks. She wanted to feel Clarke’s body underneath hers again. She could vividly remember Clarke crying out and coming under her, and she wanted that again.

She took another sip of her wine, aware that her pupils must be a bit more blown now due to her thoughts straying.

They chatted for a couple more minutes as they drank away their glasses of wine. When they were both empty, Clarke glanced back at the bottle. “Should we pour a couple more?”

“Careful there, Clarke, it is starting to seem like you want to take advantage of me,” Lexa teased. Clarke lifted an eyebrow, waiting for the brunette to say something else. Lexa set down her empty glass, standing up straight. “Maybe more wine later. Right now… well, I can think of some more entertaining things that we could be doing.”

“Oh right… I do remember us talking about how you needed to remind me just how entertaining you can be…”

“Yep, there was that,” Lexa agreed.

Clarke stepped away from the kitchen, toward her bedroom, now, lifting an eyebrow. “So, where would you like to entertain me then,  _ Lexa _ ?”

Lexa, practically entranced by the incredible woman in front of her, followed her movements only faster, so that she was exactly in front of Clarke. Their gazes met as their breaths merged, but they only stood like that for a moment before their lips came together in a rush. Clarke tasted like the wine – as did she, Lexa assumed – but after a few seconds, she couldn’t be bothered to notice. Her hands fell to Clarke’s hips and she pushed the woman backwards, hoping that they’d make it through a doorway.

Unfortunately, they did not, instead, colliding somewhat clumsily with the wall. Clarke let out a little grunt, and Lexa pulled her lips away to apologize, but Clarke just pulled her face right back up to her own. Hands were grabbing at Lexa’s waist, pulling it as close to the blonde as possible, and Lexa felt heat pooling in between her thighs. “Lexa,” Clarke breathed out against her lips somehow, causing the other woman to practically moan.

She suppressed in though, in favor of mumbling, “Worked up, are we?”

“Mmhmm,” Clarke hummed, her hands now sliding under the hem of Lexa’s button up, trailing the pads of her fingers against smooth skin. Lexa groaned, grabbing for the bottom of Clarke’s shirt now. As soon as she tugged on it, the blonde gladly helped wiggle herself out of it, leaning away from the wall to do so. As soon as the article of clothing was removed, Lexa pinned Clarke back up against the wall, the woman letting out a little gasp at the motion.

Lexa traced her hands along the sides of Clarke’s body appreciatively, feeling but not seeing the lacy bra that Clarke had on. The brunette pulled her face away from Clarke’s for a moment, looking down to see that the bra was almost more of a bralette, and it was a light blue lace, making it almost see through. Lexa heard herself, more than felt herself, moan as she looked at Clarke’s perky nipples.

“Lexa,” Clarke murmured through her heavy breaths, reminding Lexa of what she was supposed to be doing. Lexa immediately ducked her head, placing wet kisses along the tops of Clarke’s boobs, nearing the edge of her bra but not making any effort to remove it. Clarke groaned, her hips bulking forward slightly as her center waited expectantly to be touched. The blonde seemed to get impatient, suddenly tugging Lexa back up to pull their lips back together. Lexa let Clarke take control of her lips, but then she was whispering, “Touch me, please.”

Lexa wasn’t about to say no to that request, so she let her hand slide down the front of Clarke’s body, slipping into the top of her pants and under her panties – which also felt like lace. As soon as Lexa’s fingers reached Clarke’s center, they were soaked. “Mm,” Lexa hummed happily as she began to gently stroke the other woman, “what are we going to do about this?”

“Ugh,” Clarke groaned, her hips moving to try and create friction between her center and Lexa’s fingers. The brunette, however, just pressed her body closer to Clarke’s, pinning her slightly more firmly to the wall. Clarke moaned as Lexa began to tease her clit. “Oh my god Lexa.”

“Sorry?” Lexa whispered, moving her lips to Clarke’s neck and pressing feathery kisses there as her fingers lazily moved around Clarke’s clit. “What are you wanting exactly, Clarke?”

“I want you to  _ fuck me _ , Lexa,” Clarke growled lowly.

“Oh, is that all?” Lexa asked, finally sneaking her fingers closer to Clarke’s clit. “You want me to fuck you, huh?”

“Yes, please, oh my – fuck!” Lexa finally gave Clarke the friction she wanted, going from ten to sixty in a matter of seconds as she began pleasuring the blonde. Clarke’s moans and pleads became incomprehensible as her breathing rate picked up, until she finally came against the wall, crying out Lexa’s name before relaxing forward into the woman. “ _ Fuck _ , Lexa.”

“Mm,” Lexa hummed happily, pressing a couple of hot, gentle kisses to Clarke’s neck. “How about some entertainment in your bed next?”

Clarke took another breath before replying. “Only if you let me entertain you some too.”

“I think I can work with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how are you lovelies? I haven't had any heart to hearts on Ao3 lately because my updates have been sporadic and fast and ahh, I kind of miss what my notes used to be. Dunno if that's an unpopular opinion, but never the less. Here are some things that are going on with me:  
> 1\. Finalized my living situation for the next two semesters - it'll be me and my two current roommates, plus a new roommate. Fun fact: she's also a lesbian, meaning we've got two lesbians, a bisexual, and an asexual all in our apartment next semester :D Yay for the queers! (she also has a girlfriend though which is ya know great for her and they're cute asf but it reminds me that I'm single like, always)  
> 2\. My classes are over in 2.5 weeks, and then I have a week of finals, and then I'm done with my first year of college!!! BUT, because of my credit from high school, after this semester, I'll actually be considered a junior, which is totally crazy. I'll be at 56 hours.  
> 3\. Made my schedule for next semester - gonna take 16 hours even though I was going to give myself a break and take 13, I decided to take a creative writing class because it's the prereq for a script writing class that I reaaaally wanna take, so hopefully that goes well!
> 
> Other than that, life is just chugging along! Tell me something good (or anything) that's happened to you lately?  
> I seriously appreciate you all for reading and spending some of your day giving my story a chance. I would give you all thank you hugs if I could. I love you guys, have a great weekend!! xx


	7. I Got That Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting more serious by the minute for our pairing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves, happy Sunday!  
> I just realized how close it is to the weekend being over, but this is my last week of classes for the semester. I have quite a bit to do, including studying, buttttt it's almost over for now. Although I'm actually kind of stressed about summer starting (cue "wtf tori") because I'm probably going to have to move midway through it which inhibits getting a job for the entirety of the summer. Hopefully I can work before and after the move, though, because y'all know I'm a broke college student rn XD  
> Ah I'm already going on a tangent and we haven't talked about the story yet lol.  
> There's not much to say about it right now though, it's update day and so here's the update!
> 
> Enjoy!! xx

**** If Clarke wasn’t careful, waking up in her bed next to Lexa was going to become one of her most favorite things. Her eyes flickering open after realizing that an arm was wrapped protectively around her waist. Hearing the soft breaths behind her as she felt the rise and fall of Lexa’s chest – and her boobs, of course. She was almost completely intoxicated by the brunette just by waking up.

She wouldn’t have moved – ever, probably – if it weren’t for her bladder basically screaming at her. The last thing she needed was for this morning to be ruined by pissing herself, so she carefully wiggled out of Lexa’s grasp and went to her bathroom. She didn’t bother closing the door, instead just quickly peeing, washing her hands and face, and quickly brushing her teeth.

Then she hurried back to her room, thankful that Lexa was still asleep, and carefully pulled back the blankets to tuck herself back in next to Lexa. As she did so, her gaze fell on Lexa’s naked body, and she thought back to the previous night. Like the week before, it had been… mind-blowing.

Yes, Clarke was becoming addicted to Lexa. She could feel it already, and she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but she wasn’t sure that she could help it. As she crawled back into her bed, the woman began to stir next to her, and she cursed herself mentally for waking the brunette up. She wasn’t even exactly sure of the time – it could be ridiculously early for all she knew.

So Clarke tried to hold her breath and let Lexa fall back asleep, but no such luck, green eyes flickered open and immediately focused in on Clarke. “Mm. Good morning beautiful,” Lexa murmured.

“Morning. Sorry, I think I woke you up by getting back into bed.”

“You got out of bed?” Lexa wondered tiredly, adjusting herself in the blankets and pulling them around herself tighter. Clarke felt a smile tug on her lips at how cute she was.

“Yeah. I figured it was a better alternative to pissing in the bed.”

Lexa laughed, her morning voice a little rough. “You’re probably right. How did you sleep?”

“Good. I was comfy,” Clarke answered, scooting slightly closer to the other woman. “How about you?”

“Mm, also very well,” she agreed. “You’re very comfy.”

“Me, or the bed?”

“You,” Lexa insisted. “Ugh, I’m still tired. Cuddle more with me?” Clarke, her heart swelling, pretty much giggled at how adorable Lexa was, and she scooted into Lexa’s embrace.

They laid like that for a while, and Clarke actually thought that Lexa was falling asleep until the brunette shifted and groaned out, “Ugh, now I have to pee.” Clarke laughed, pulling out of their cuddling position.

“Well then go pee, I don’t need you wetting the bed either.”

Lexa laughed, climbing out of the bed and rushing to the bathroom. Clarke couldn’t help but stare after her – Lexa’s body was too flawless not to. Clarke curled herself into the blankets further as she waited for Lexa, and thankfully it didn’t take very long for the toilet to flush, the water to run, and for Lexa to reappear in the bedroom. “Hey scoot back over, you took some of my space.”

“Did not.”

“Did to.”

“It’s my bed.”

“Yeah well, you chose to share it,” Lexa insisted, crawling back into the bed.

“Well come take the space if you want it so badly.” Clarke was expecting Lexa to get back into a cuddling position with the blonde at that point, but instead, Lexa just pushed the blankets away and straddled the blonde all of the sudden. Clarke looked up at dazzling green eyes with wonder as she waited to see what Lexa would say or do. She was fully prepared and on board for morning sex.

But before anything else happened, Lexa let out a strange sigh and she said, “I really fucking like you.”

Clarke’s expression shifted to one of puzzlement now. “I like you too.” Lexa looked like she was debating saying something else, and Clarke just waited patiently for her to work it out. She was starting to think that the brunette wasn’t going to follow it up with anything else, but then she took in a shaky breath and continued.

“I know that you’re… busy, you know, with work and life and shit. And I kind of am too. But I really like you, and I really like what’s going on between us, and I don’t  _ mind _ casual dating, but… I need you to know that I don’t feel casual with you, Clarke. And I felt like I should tell you that, because I want us to be on the same page. I don’t want either of us to waste our time, because we both know that it’s precious,” Lexa said gently.

“Lexa,” Clarke breathed out, somewhat taken aback by this sudden confession. That said, she was definitely not upset at all at having heard it. “I don’t really feel casual with you either. I  _ really _ like you too, and I haven’t really been into someone in a while, but I know that we have a big something between us, and I really wanna see where that goes.”

Lexa grinned. “Okay, good. It was going to really suck if you wanted to be keeping it completely casual.”

“Yeah, as if I could do that with you,” Clarke mumbled. “You’re like, the total package.”

“Am I?” Lexa asked in amusement, and the blonde nodded, lifting a hand to push some of Lexa’s dangling hairs out of the way.

“Uh yes. And don’t pretend like you don’t know it too, you cocky shit.”

Lexa laughed, leaning down to press her lips to Clarke’s gently. The blonde returned the kiss eagerly, but Lexa broke it a second later to say, “I don’t know. I think you’re a pretty complete package yourself.”

“Uh huh, whatever you say, babe,” Clarke muttered, leaning up to grab Lexa’s lips in another deep kiss. Lexa couldn’t even react to the term  _ babe _ , but she figured she shouldn’t make a big deal over it anyway.

They stayed like that for a good few minutes, Lexa on top of Clarke and their lips and tongues clashing between them. At some point, Lexa collapsed onto the bed next to the blonde. “Do you have anything important to do today?”

“Can’t remember,” Clarke admitted. She glanced over to her night stand, then quickly grabbing off of it her phone. She opened it real quick, checking what Lexa presumed as her calendar, before clicking it off and smiling brightly. “Nope, nothing important. You?”

“Don’t think so,” Lexa said brightly.

“Oh – but by the way. Would you wanna go hiking with me next Saturday? I’ve kind of been looking for a hiking partner and I remember you saying that you wanted to do that more. And you won’t have to worry about me leaving you in the dust – you can’t be worse than Raven and I didn’t even leave her behind.”

Lexa laughed at the Raven comment and then nodded. “Sure, that sounds fun. Don’t you have lunch with your mom right after that, though?”

“Yeah, I’ll just come back by here and shower before I go over to her place. And… I mean, if you want to, you can join me there, too,” Clarke suggested, possibly surprising herself more than Lexa, who didn’t seem all too fazed by the question. “It’s a friendly thing my mom does every couple of weeks, mostly it’s a bunch of her doctor friends and me.”

Lexa lifted an eyebrow. “You’re not just asking so you can avoid that guy your mom tried to set you up with?” As she asked the question, her lips turned into a gentle smirk, and Clarke rolled her eyes.

“Uh no,” Clarke said simply, choosing not to entertain Lexa’s fishing for further explanation. “You don’t have to come if it’s weird.”

“No, I’d love to,” Lexa answered hurriedly. “Sounds like a great morning if you ask me. Uh – if I can use your shower. Because something tells me that it would be inefficient for me to go all the way back to my apartment after hiking with you just to meet you back at your or your mom’s place.”

“Yeah of course,” Clarke agreed with an easy nod. “Cool.”

“So,” Lexa said, changing her tone of voice now, “we both have nothing to do today… and I can think of a couple of things we could do…”

“Mm, I think I can too.” Clarke shifted her position as she brought her lips to meet Lexa’s. Lexa instantly accepted the kiss, taking it over in a matter of seconds, even as Clarke climbed on top of her. And Clarke let her maintain control of the kiss, but her pale hands dragged over the shape of Lexa’s body, resting on her hips and gripping there slightly as she began to grind her center near Lexa’s. The brunette grunted, her hands falling from Clarke’s back down to the back of her thighs. Clarke felt the woman squeeze her thighs, and Clarke hummed in response into Lexa’s lips.

She trailed her hand down again, now moving between the brunette’s thighs. Wetness was already gathering there, so it was easy for Clarke to slip her fingers through Lexa’s folds, causing the woman to gasp slightly. Clarke’s right hand, in the meantime, gave attention to Lexa’s breast, and her lips lower to Lexa’s neck, where she kiss and sucked on the skin there, doing her best to not leave any marks.

By the sound of Lexa’s breathing, it became clear when she was getting close, and her moans and gasps began to shift into her moaning out Clarke’s name – and the blonde  _ loved _ that. It was becoming clear to her that Lexa was more comfortable with being the top – because the previous night, like after their first date, Lexa had ended the night on top of Clarke, eager to be the last to please. And Clarke was okay with that, although at some point, she wanted to ask Lexa about it. But now was definitely not the time, and Clarke was just happy that Lexa was able to be vulnerable with her.

Lexa cried out in pleasure as she came, and Clarke smiled against the brunette’s skin as she started to come down from the orgasm. “Jesus,” Lexa breathed out.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure it was more me than Jesus,” Clarke teased, pressing a light kiss to the spot on Lexa’s neck where she had been previously attached.

“I fucking hope so,” Lexa said with a chuckle. Clarke gently pulled her fingers out from between Lexa’s legs, wiping them off on her sheets and making a note to remember to wash them that night. They definitely needed a good clean after last night and this morning.

Clarke sat up, still straddling Lexa, as her phone suddenly started ringing. Rolling her eyes, she climbed off of the brunette and moved over to the side of her bed where her nightstand was – glancing at her phone. It was Octavia. “Ah, this should be quick, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lexa insisted, and Clarke flashed her an appreciative smile as she grabbed the phone and hit the answer button.

“Hey, O, what up?”

“Are you busy? Raven and I were thinking lunch soon.”

“Yeah, I am actually,” Clarke said.

“Oh – what with? Wait, oh shit, you had a date last night right? Still in bed?”

“Mm, yes,” Clarke answered, her lips quirking up into a smile.

“Dude, I can’t remember the last time you hooked up with the same girl twice in a row,” Octavia commented, “or like even gone on multiple dates with the same person.”

“Yeah, yeah, we can talk about it later, okay? You guys have fun at lunch.”

“Have fun in bed.”

The call ended, and Clarke set her phone back on her nightstand, laying back on her bed and rolling over to face Lexa, who was staring at her. The way Lexa looked at her, though, was simultaneously so intense and so soft, and it kind of surprised the blonde. “How long have you known Octavia for?” Lexa asked curiously. “You guys are really close, right?”

“Yeah,” Clarke replied, “we’ve known each other since high school. I can’t even really remember like, how we met really. We just hit it off when we met in sophomore year and have basically been best friends ever since. Went to college together too. And she’s the one who met Raven at a company they both worked for a while.”

“That’s so cool,” Lexa said thoughtfully. “I met Anya in college – we used to be a lot closer, and that’s not to say we’re not close now. Just, when I met her, I was pretty like… I don’t know, detached from people, so once I realized that I could actually open up to someone, she kinda became my rock. That was a long time ago, though.”

“I get that. I definitely used to use my friends as an outlet more when I was younger,” Clarke agreed. “But they’re still useful for that sometimes. When they’re not like, you know, wallowing in bed for weeks on end.”

Lexa chuckled. “Yeah, I mean, I still talk to Anya about shit when I need to. But I don’t know. There was a time period where I was in a relationship for a little while, and I stopped talking as much to Anya – understandably I guess. And after that ended… I guess it just didn’t really go back to the same level.”

“When was that?” Clarke asked curiously. “The last time you were in a relationship for a while?”

“Few years ago,” Lexa answered vaguely, glancing away as she, presumably, thought about it.

Clarke didn’t want to overstep, but she was curious, and the question slipped out without her really thinking twice. “How’d it end?”

Lexa exhaled quietly, looking back to Clarke thoughtfully. “She was kind of using me. Started getting kind of distant unless whatever we were doing involved her getting sex or money. Pretty sure she cheated once or twice, though that remains unconfirmed.”

“Oh shit,” Clarke said, furrowing her eyebrows. “That’s awful.”

“Honestly, it wasn’t super surprising, because I started realizing it a few months before we actually ended. And I bounced back pretty quickly and started serial dating for a while.”

“Serial dating, huh?”

“Yeah – Anya calls that my player stage.”

“So that’s when you picked up all your tips on how to be smooth then?”

Lexa smirked, lifting an eyebrow. “No, I’m just naturally smooth. So what about you? When was your last relationship?”

“Um, I was in a relationship with a guy through my senior year of college, and we were together for about half a year after that – it ended just before I turned twenty-three. Then I also dated off and on with a handful of people for a while… until a year ago, when I practically swore off dating because it was overcomplicating life.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to be single and  _ completely _ swear off dating,” Lexa commented, seeming surprised by Clarke saying this.

Clarke just relaxed into her pillow. “I was just not getting anything out of it really. And I… I don’t know, I didn’t want to be just casually dating and hooking up with people, but that’s mostly what I found – that, or people assuming we were exclusive after two dates and not asking about it first. Just not my thing I guess. Which my mother would mock, because according to her, I was never not single through all of college.”

Lexa smirked again. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Oh really? What’s that supposed to mean?” Clarke lifted a challenging eyebrow, but before she got a response, the other woman was suddenly atop her, the blanket completely fallen away and lost somewhere as Lexa straddled Clarke’s center.

“It means that I think you’re drop dead gorgeous,” Lexa murmured lowly, her hands splaying across the blonde’s midsection, “and I definitely believe that people would line up to date you.”

“Mm, that’s very sweet, but I’m not sure that has had or would ever have happened literally,” Clarke replied softly.

“Well, right now, I don’t think you need to worry about that.” Lexa dipped down and grabbed Clarke’s lips with her own, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. Clarke sighed into the kiss, her hands wrapping around to Lexa’s back. No, she definitely didn’t need to worry about that right now, because this thing was Lexa was definitely getting serious – there was no doubt about that in her mind.

* * *

“Clarke! I wasn’t expecting a call from you today,” Abby said in surprise as she answered the phone call. Clarke was in the middle of doing laundry, sitting on top of her washer as it spun her sheets and clothes around in circles. Lexa had left a couple of hours earlier, after they’d managed to throw together some kind of very late breakfast with the meager food in Clarke’s kitchen, to both of their disappointment. “Everything okay? You’re still good for lunch on Saturday, right?”

“Yeah, I’m good, lunch is good,” Clarke confirmed. “Actually, I guess I am calling about lunch, but not because I can’t go. I was wondering if it’s fine if someone comes over along with me?”

“Who? Octavia? I haven’t seen her in a while, it would be nice to talk to her again.”

“No, actually, like… a woman I’ve been seeing,” Clarke clarified quickly.

“What? You’re seeing someone? Clarke! Tell me about her!”

Clarke smiled, leaning backwards against the wall. “Well, we aren’t like, exclusive. Yet. I’ve been on a couple of dates with her and she’s… well, she’s actually amazing. I invited her to go hiking with me next Saturday and that’s right before your lunch… so I asked her if she wanted to come along to that too and she agreed. But I realized I should probably clear it with you first.”

“Of course, Clarke, you’re always allowed to bring a plus one over to my get togethers. And if you and this woman do end up going  _ exclusive _ , or whatever you guys call it these days, I’d love to take you both out to dinner at some point too. But of course you know that. Gosh, Clarke, it’s been ages since you were considering a relationship with someone. I’m so happy for you.”

Clarke laughed brightly at her mother’s enthusiasm. “Thanks, mom. I’m thinking… I don’t know, I might ask her to be my girlfriend next weekend too. If she doesn’t beat me to it. She seems like the kind of person who’d wanna ask.”

“What did you say her name was?”

“Oh, I don’t think I did. It’s Lexa,” Clarke answered. “She’s a dream, you’ll love her.”

“What do Octavia and Raven think of this Lexa?”

Clarke blinked. “They haven’t met her, actually. Which is ironic, because I actually met her while I was out with Octavia and Raven, but they were on the dance floor of the club and I was at the bar.”

“You met this woman at a  _ club _ ?”

Clarke laughed. “Yeah, in all honesty, I kind of just expected it to be a hookup. But… it’s definitely going past that.”

“Well… I mean I guess I can’t judge or anything. Everyone these days meets in the weirdest way. All those apps and things.” Clarke rolled her eyes, but Abby kept talking, “Anyway. As long as she’s good to you. All I want is for you to be happy, sweetie.”

“I know, mom.” Clarke couldn’t help but smile now – she really was lucky in the mom department. “Well hey, I have to finish up my laundry and I need to call Octavia, so I’ll let you go.”

“Alright, Clarke. Call me if you need anything this week, otherwise I’ll see you on Saturday!”

“Yep, love you mom.”

“Love you too.”

Clarke ended the call and immediately started a call to her best friend. Octavia picked up in seconds. “Hey girl hey!” Octavia greeted brightly. “How was the morning sex?”

“Great,” Clarke answered, snickering as she pulled her legs up onto the washer and crossed them, trying to find a more comfortable position as if she wasn’t sitting in possibly the least comfortable place in her apartment. “How was lunch with Rae?”

“Surprisingly good. She’s doing a lot better, you know? I just hope… I don’t know, that she starts dating again soon? Or gets into a relationship? Like I know it’s not always good to get right into a relationship after leaving one – especially if you were dumped… but I think Raven functions way better in a relationship.”

Clarke sighed. “Yeah, I think you’re right. But I mean… if she doesn’t want one right now, that’s her deal.” Octavia hummed in agreement. Clarke cracked a small smile and joked, “But hey, I mean,  _ you two _ could always get together and sail the Octaven ship.”

Octavia scoffed. “Dude, I’ve told you so many times that that was never almost a thing.”

“Yeah, I know, but I totally thought you two would get together at some point,” Clarke said with a shrug.

“Anyway, moving on from talking about Rae. I need you to be my friend date on Friday night,” Octavia said out of the blue.

“Um, to what?”

“It’s a work thing – a celebration for one of the departments like doubling their earnings after five years or some shit. It’s free food and free booze, you can’t turn it down,” Octavia insisted.

“Alright, I’ll go with you. But I can’t get wasted and it we can’t be out late. I’m going hiking with Lexa on Saturday morning and then we’re doing lunch with my mom.”

“Lexa is going with you to lunch at your mom’s?” Octavia asked in surprise. “I haven’t even met Lexa yet, what! That’s so unfair!”

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows, laughing lightly in confusion. “I think you’ll survive. And I’m sure you’ll meet her soon. I’m thinking about asking her to be my girlfriend this weekend.”

“Really? Already?”

“Yeah, why? Is that too soon?”

“Have you guys like… talked about…  _ feelings _ and shit?”

Clarke flushed, surprised at herself for feeling more embarrassed to talk about feelings than sex with her best friend. “Yeah, we have. And I really like her, O. And if I don’t ask her, I’m pretty sure she’s going to ask me too. I don’t’ know, it feels like the right thing to do…”

“Well then, you should definitely do that. People have definitely gotten together faster. Just… maybe don’t pull the lesbian U-Haul shit just yet, okay?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep my U-Haul key in the back of my dresser drawer for a little while longer,” Clarke deadpanned with an eye roll. “I’m not even a lesbian, O.”

“Yeah well, still,” Octavia huffed out. “Anyway. Back to  _ me _ . Friday night, I can pick you up, because the party is downtown, but then you have to designate yourself as sober driver and take us back. Otherwise, we can take a Lyft.”

“Uh, I didn’t say I’m not drinking at all. We can take a Lyft.”

“Cool, works for me,” Octavia said, sighing happily. “So, got plans for the rest of your Sunday?”

“Not really. Probably gonna start on some work so I can cut one of my days this week short.”

“Wait – Clarke Griffin wants to cut one of her days short? This is insane, are you sure you’re really Clarke? What did you do with my best friend?”

Clarke rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile anyway. “I’m thinking I might take a half day on Wednesday or Thursday and get lunch with Lexa downtown. Otherwise I probably won’t see her until Saturday since we both work long days.”

“Gotcha,” Octavia replied thoughtfully. “Oh shit, Raven’s trying to call me. Hold on, I’ll merge her in.”

Clarke waited while the brunette did just that, and a moment later, Raven was in the call as well, greeting them with a bright, “What’s up bitches?”

“Not much,” Clarke answered, “I’m doing laundry, Octavia called to ask me out.”

“ _ Gay _ ,” Raven joked. “To what?”

“Work event on Friday,” Octavia said dismissively.

“Sounds boring. Right well, I was calling for a reason.”

“What’s up?” Octavia asked expectantly.

“Some of my friends from college are visiting this weekend – we’re gonna go clubbing Saturday night. You guys wanna join? It’s been a while since I’ve seen them, and I think it might be better if there’s some more familiar people around too.”

“Sure, I’m down. Just text me the details later,” Octavia agreed.

Clarke could pretty much hear Raven’s grin as she chimed out, “Awesome! Clarke?”

The blonde opened her mouth to answer immediately, but then she realized that she didn’t know the answer. “Um, I’m not sure,” she said slowly. The thing was, she had plans all morning with Lexa, and of course that said nothing about the rest of her day, but if she could help it, she’d really like to keep the second half of her day open. In case… well, she supposed any number of things could happen. It all depended. “I probably won’t know until night of. So… I’ll keep you updated?”

“Wait, why?” Raven asked in a whine.

“I might be busy,” Clarke answered defensively, already knowing that she would have to be defending her wanting to keep the night open.

Sure enough, Raven followed up with, “Well if you make plans with  _ us _ , then you won’t be busy with anyone else, and that will straighten out your schedule!”

“Sorry, Rae, but I’m gonna have to let you know later. Plus, I’m not a huge fan of clubbing anymore – you know this.”

Raven sighed. “This girl you’ve been seeing… she better be hot.” Clarke couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out through her lips at that, a smirk forming on her face.

“Yeah, don’t worry. She is.”

Clarke’s washer suddenly stopped rumbling and beeped noisily to indicate that it was done, and she knew that she needed to toss her sheets in the dryer so that they would be done sooner. Even though her day hadn’t been busy, per se, she was already about ready to crawl in bed and start doing some work on her laptop. And maybe that wasn’t the best setting to do work in, but it was comfy and easy and well… maybe her thighs and center were a little sore to be sitting on a hard chair already.

“Clarke?” Octavia was asking, and Clarke realized that she had completely zoned out of the conversation.

“Sorry, hey guys, my laundry just finished and I really need to start on some work. I’ll talk to you both tomorrow, though?”

“Wait, C –“ Raven interrupted, before sighing. “Never mind, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye guys,” Clarke said into the phone, waiting until she heard the response from her friends before she hung up. She hopped off of the washer and began transferring her laundry into the dryer.

Her phone buzzed as she finished up doing so, and as soon as the dryer was tossing around her wet sheets, she grabbed the device to check her messages.

**Lexa – It’s sad that I miss you even though I spent all morning with you?**

**Lexa – It’s maybe more pathetic than sad actually, especially since I just texted you to tell you that.**

**Clarke – No it’s okay :P I kindaaa miss you too.**

**Lexa – Oh kinda, huh? I guess I can work with kinda.**

**Lexa – Do you kinda wish I was naked in your bed right now too then?**

**Clarke – Kinda.**

**Lexa – Well, I guess I’ll remember that next weekend, where I’ll assume you only** **_kinda_ ** **wanna cum too.**

**Clarke – Wow, wow… presumptuous are we today? Who said anything about sex next weekend?**

**Lexa – Well, I did, and you just did, so I guess it’s a done deal. ;)**

**Clarke – Hmm, I’ll have to check my availability.**

**Lexa – Go right ahead. Let me know of any conflicts well in advance, though. It’ll change my Friday and Sunday plans.**

**Clarke – Oh? And how exactly do you figure that?**

**Lexa – Well, if I’m going to be spending half of the day with you on Saturday without any sex, I’m gonna have to be taking care of myself before and after. I’m sure you understand. We’re creatures of sexual desire.**

Clarke’s eyes darkened, and she leaned against her dryer as it rumbled.

**Clarke – You just love to sext, don’t you?**

**Lexa – I don’t know what you’re talking about, Clarke. I do not sext.**

**Clarke – Oh, no?**

**Lexa – No. We’re just having a conversation.**

**Clarke – I sure hope this isn’t a normal conversation for you with everyone.**

**Lexa – Don’t worry, Anya got tired of me talking about masturbating, so now it’s just you ;)**

**Clarke – Oh really? Huh, I guess that means I’ll have something to talk to Anya about when I finally meet her.**

**Lexa – Hah, oh boy, what a conversation that would be actually.**

**Lexa – I don’t talk to her about masturbating lol**

**Clarke – Yeah I kinda figured**

**Clarke – What are you up to beautiful?**

**Lexa – Not much. Kind of just writing some stuff for fun. It’s been a while since I did that.**

**Clarke – Hey that’s nice though. You work a lot, so it’s definitely good for you to do stuff that’s relaxing and for you.**

**Lexa – Yeah, you’re right… which is why it would be convenient if you were here, because you are definitely something I could do that is relaxing and for me…**

**Clarke – Ah, and the sexting returns.**

**Clarke – I’m finishing up laundry and need to get some work done – I’ll call you later?**

**Lexa – If you’re not busy, go ahead. But I don’t want to fuck up your work mojo and what not, so if it’s late when you finish, don’t worry about it. I can wait to talk to you – even if it doesn’t seem that way.**

**Clarke – Will you be up?**

**Lexa – Of course**

**Clarke – Then I’ll call you :)**

**Lexa – I look forward to it. Xx**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been reading a shit ton of Clexa fanfic lately, and I'm almost finished with the one I'm current reading (A Pleasant Undoing by mopeytropey), soooo any recs? Although maybe if I stop reading so much, I'll squeeze in more time for writing.  
> Or maybe the reading will inspire the writing more.  
> Haha well, I'm almost finished with the next chapter of this story, so you'll all see it up next Sunday! I'm not sure how long this story will be, chapter wise or words wise, but I've still got quite a bit planned for it, soooo hopefully pretty long. That said, I think I do know what I'm writing next, which is a great feeling, because it's been a while since I've had more than one idea bouncing around in my head. At least, more than one solid idea.  
> Sorry for the rambling. I guess I'm in a rambling mood.  
> If you feel like chatting or stalking me or anything, hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana :)  
> Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this chapter, I appreciate you all so much and I hope that you have a lovely week!! xx


	8. I Look Like All You Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa really want to make time for each other during the work week - in very atypical Clarke and Lexa fashion, they are willing to work less if it means seeing each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! Happy update day!! Decided to update a little early today becaaaause I should have either a date or a cuddle date or both later today :P  
> I haven't written much past this chapter yet, because life has been kinda busy the past week or so, and I can't promise that I'll have enough ready for an update next weekend, because I am moving out on Saturday and heading back home with my parents. It's gonna be weeeird moving back in with them, not gonna lie. Not bad, just weird.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapterrrr! :D It's a lot of fluff, but there's plot in there too, of course :P
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** Lexa stretched her arms up over her head as she leaned back in her office chair, letting out a yawn. It was only halfway through the work day, but she desperately needed a break. And it didn’t help that it was halfway through the work  _ week _ too. Wednesdays seemed to be the day where she had the most work lined up for her do. Jenna, her boss, definitely had a weekly checklist of some sort that had of “give Lexa all of the paperwork that needs to be done by Friday on Wednesday morning” on it.

But Lexa had actually made some decent progress, and she was pretty sure that she would be done kind of early on Friday. Of course, that just meant she’d start on some other work at that point, but the paperwork was the least fun part of her job.

Glancing down at the time, she wondered if she should just take a later lunch in favor of knocking out a few more of the things she had to do. Her gaze then jumped up to the glass windows, and she saw Maia on the office phone, jotting some things down. It was probably another extra task from Jenna, and that thought elicited a sigh from the brunette.

She loved her job, really, but today she was just feeling a little bit worn.

That said, she decided that skipping lunch was probably for the best, and that she would just leave early to compensate. She settled fully into her chair again, pulled up her next order of business on her computer screen, and then was immediately distracted when her phone buzzed from the side of her desk.

Lexa was not accustomed to getting texts while she was at work, so she grabbed the device curiously, turning it over to read the notification. It was from Clarke, and she supposed that she shouldn’t have been surprised, except usually the blonde would be working at this time too.

She swiped across the screen to open the message from the blonde, her heart rate already quickening.

**Clarke – I don’t know when you normally do lunch, but I’m dropping off some documents at a place downtown and then I’m free the rest of the day, so if you want to meet up some place and get food… :)**

And there went Lexa’s plans to skip lunch.

**Lexa – Of course! We can go to the same place as last time if that works for you?**

**Clarke – Sure!**

**Lexa – What time will you be there?**

**Clarke – Probably in like, half an hour**

**Lexa – Great, well I’ll be there, beautiful ;)**

**Clarke – Can’t wait ;D**

Lexa locked her phone and looked back at her computer screen. The next thing on her list to do would probably only take fifteen minutes or so, so her fingers began to move quickly across her keyboard in a last ditch effort to be productive before she went to meet with Clarke.

When she finished it up, she locked her computer and grabbed her wallet and her phone. As she left her office, Maia looked up at her curiously. “You’re taking a late lunch,” she commented. “I figured you were just skipping it since you hadn’t gone already.”

“That was actually the plan,” Lexa told the other woman with a chuckle, “but it seems that now I have a lunch date.”

“Oh really?” Maia asked in surprise. “I didn’t know you were seeing someone.”

“It’s kind of new,” Lexa admitted. She and her secretary weren’t particularly close, but they had worked together for quite a while, so they did keep tabs on each other’s lives to some extent.

“Well, I love hearing about relationships, so if you ever wanna talk about it,” Maia offered with a light laugh. “Have fun.”

Lexa laughed as well, nodding. “Thanks, I’ll see you in a bit.” And with that, Lexa was on her way out to meet Clarke.

The café was very close to Lexa’s work, which was why she frequented it at all, and also why she’d wanted to meet Clarke there. Since Lexa’s lunch break wasn’t as long as she would like, and she wanted to maximize the time she got to see the blonde. And who could blame her, really?

Clarke was already there by the time Lexa walked in, but it seemed like she’d just gotten there, because she was the last person in the line. Her blue eyes were trained down at her phone, so she didn’t see the brunette as she approached. Lexa’s hand gently rose and touched Clarke’s arm, hoping to not scare her, and thankfully, Clarke just looked up with a bright smile.

“Hey,” Lexa greeted happily. “You haven’t been here long, have you?”

“Nope, not long,” Clarke confirmed. “Just got here – I hate parking in the city. But it’s of course worth it to come see you.”

Lexa fought the blush that she felt wanting to appear. “I find it pretty hard to believe that you’re done with work already – you’re really  _ not _ going back to your office to get ahead or something?”

“Actually, I got pretty ahead on Sunday night so that I could give myself a break today,” Clarke admitted. “ _ And _ … well, I was thinking, I don’t know when you get off later, but you have to eat dinner, right? I was thinking maybe we could meet up somewhere and get food later too. Since we don’t have lots of time for lunch.”

Lexa felt a smile appearing involuntarily across her lips. She loved that Clarke was trying to work in time during the week for the two of them to see each other, and her explanation was super cute. Lexa would’ve kissed her right there if the blonde wasn’t clearly waiting for an answer. “Yeah, you’re right, I do have to eat dinner. I usually make myself something at home, but we can go out.”

“If you don’t wanna go out –“

“No, no, we should go out,” Lexa interrupted, maybe a little too quickly. She still wasn’t sure about having Clarke over at her place yet, if only because it had been quite a while since anyone other than her close friends had been over there. Of course, Clarke did not at all seem like the kind of person whose thought might change about Lexa once she saw where she lived, but Lexa had too many negative experiences to be perfectly ready already.

“Okay,” Clarke said easily, seemingly unaware of Lexa’s sudden stress level increase. If she had noticed it, she clearly decided that it was better to not ask about it. And Lexa was grateful for that. “So. Anything interesting going on at work?”

“I wish,” Lexa answered with a huff. “My boss just unloaded her weekly paper work pile on me. But I’m making good progress, it’s just like… my least favorite part of the job, I guess.”

“Yeah, paper work is shit. Unfortunately, I can relate to that a lot,” Clarke agreed, sighing. They reached the counter and quickly ordered their lunches, paying quickly and then finding a spot in the café to sit. “So, my friends really want to meet you.”

Lexa lifted a curious eyebrow at the blonde. “Do they?”

“Mostly because a lot of my free time has been going toward you instead of them,” Clarke joked with a soft smile. “I was texting them yesterday and they’re claiming that if I don’t introduce you soon, they’re going to take matters into their own hands.”

“Well that sounds pretty terrifying,” Lexa teased. “I guess we should give them what they want before they try something crazy?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t get to see you  _ that _ often, so sharing you doesn’t sound very appealing.”

Lexa let out a bright laugh, and she noticed Clarke’s lips twitch into a small smile. “Well, you know when I’m free. So whenever you deem it okay for me to meet your friends…” She didn’t think that Clarke was deliberately avoiding Lexa meeting her friends, and she hoped that her smirk was enough to convey that to the blonde.

“Oh it’s quite okay with me,” Clarke insisted anyway, sitting up a little straighter. “Like I said. Sharing you. Not appealing.” Clarke lifted a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, and Lexa decided that she really enjoyed Clarke’s attempts to look intimidating or challenging – because it simultaneously made Lexa’s heart flutter and also pick up pace. “Besides, you haven’t introduced me to your friends either,  _ Lexa _ .”

The way Clarke said her name had another area of her body reacting now, and she discreetly squeezed her thighs together slightly. She did her best to challenge Clarke back with her expression. “You already met my best friend – before you met me.”

Lexa could tell when Clarke realized that she was right, her smirk falling away from her face for a moment. It was quickly replaced by a quirked eyebrow and the blonde asked, “Speaking of that night… that was planned, right? You told Anya to try that line on me?”

Lexa grinned a little, remembering her interaction with Clarke that night. “No, I didn’t. I saw you at the bar alone, and Anya caught where I was looking and was heading over to you before I could say anything. But I know Anya and I know how she tries to pick up girls, so I was ready to intercept.”

“Seriously?” Clarke asked, a laugh bubbling out from the blonde and eliciting a similarly amused laugh from Lexa. “So… what pickup line would she have used on me if I’d wanted to hear it?”

“Who knows. She has a plethora of favorites – she tries to tailor it to the person. I didn’t ask her,” Lexa admitted.

“You totally let me believe it was planned that night, though, when I said something about it,” Clarke stated, a curious twinge in her voice.

Lexa chuckled. “I guess it was a convenient way to seem pretty smooth.”

“Please, Lexa, you are smooth,” Clarke insisted with an eyeroll, and at the same time, their food was being set in front of them. They both thanked the waiter quickly and she nodded politely at them before disappearing again. “Don’t even try to pretend you aren’t and that you don’t know it.”

Lexa smirked, grabbing her food and beginning to eat. She was on a bit of a time crunch, even if she didn’t want to be. “Okay, but it was still fairly convenient for me at the time.”

“I’ll say,” Clarke agreed.

They began eating, a calm silence settling between them. It was an easy one, too, without the pressures of coming up with something to say in between bites. Lexa’s gaze kept lingering on Clarke when the blonde wasn’t paying attention, and she felt her chest warm affectionately every time. The fact that Clarke had gone out of her way to meet up with her for lunch – and to ask her to dinner – in the middle of the week was really touching, and Lexa knew that she would need to somehow repay the blonde for the sentiment.

She’d figure something out by this weekend hopefully.

When they finished eating, they talked for a little while longer until Lexa knew that she was cutting it close with her lunch break. Since she now had dinner plans, she wanted to make sure that she got as much done as she could at work.

“So, what time am I meeting you where?” she asked as they exited the café.

“When will you be done with work?”

“I can be done whenever – I don’t want you to have to eat really late. You probably have work in the morning.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to make you leave work early – you’ve got paperwork to do, right? What time would you normally leave work?” Clarke asked pointedly, crossing her arms over her chest. Lexa debated telling her honestly, because Lexa was a late worker, and she probably wouldn’t leave until about seven.

She decided to just be honest. “I usually leave around seven. But if you’re going to wait until then to eat with me, we’re meeting someone closer to your place, that way you don’t have to drive all the way back into downtown.”

Clarke smiled softly. “Alright, deal. So just text me when you’re heading out and I’ll text you an address, deal?”

“Deal,” Lexa agreed. They hadn’t moved very far from the café, because they were headed in separate directions. But Lexa wasn’t going anywhere without a goodbye kiss, so she took a pointed step toward Clarke, the other woman not moving an inch, and their lips met gently. Clarke’s hand landed on Lexa’s hip, pulling her slightly closer to deepen the kiss. They broke the connection after a few long seconds, and the blonde sighed in disappointment.

“Alright, you better head back before I decide to kidnap you from work instead,” Clarke insisted, and Lexa chuckled.

“I’ll see you later, Clarke.”

“Bye, Lexa.”

Lexa glanced back a couple of times as she walked back toward the office building, watching Clarke head toward wherever she had parked. Longing tugged at her chest, but she suppressed it as best as she could as she made her way back to work. Thankfully, she made it back up to her office just as her lunch break was coming to an end, and Maia gave her a pleasant smile. “How was your lunch date?” her assistant asked brightly, getting a smile out of the brunette as well.

“It was very nice,” she replied. “I got a dinner date out of it, so I’ll say it was definitely worth going.”

Maia chuckled. “Good to hear.”

“If you need me, I’ll be going at that paperwork.”

“Of course. Let me know if you need any caffeine,” Maia said in amusement. Lexa nodded, slipping through the glass doors into her office. She sat herself down at her desk, unlocked her computer, and took in a deep breath. She just had to power through the rest of the work day, and she could see Clarke again.

She couldn’t remember the last time she was this excited to leave work.

* * *

“Lexa? Are you driving?” Anya asked through the phone, her voice coming out of Lexa’s Bluetooth car speaker.

“Yeah, I dropped my work stuff at home and I’m going out,” Lexa replied simply. “What’s up?”

“Just thought we could catch up – bridesmaid drama and shit. But I’m a bit curious about this going out thing. It’s Wednesday. You have work tomorrow – what happened to cook food, eat, pass out?”

“Clarke asked me to dinner,” Lexa admitted. “I was going to leave work early so she didn’t have to be up late, but she insisted that it was fine. So I’m headed into Los Feliz.”

“Damn, alright. So when do I get to meet this girl again?”

Lexa chuckled. “Funny, she asked me something similar today at lunch.”

“Wait, you got lunch with her and now you’re getting dinner with her?”

“Yes? And?” Lexa asked, feeling herself close off from her friend slightly. “What’s the big deal?”

“Nothing, I guess,” Anya said slowly. “I guess I’m just surprised. And you almost left work early to see her again. I guess… I don’t know, you like never prioritize anyone over your job, ever.”

“She’s not prioritized over my job,” Lexa stated matter-of-factly. “But I kind of make my own hours when it’s after five, so it’s not like I couldn’t leave before seven.”

“You know what I mean, Lexa,” Anya huffed out. “You and this woman are really getting serious.”

“That has been the plan, yes,” Lexa agreed.

“So you’re bringing her to the engagement party?”

“I haven’t asked her yet,” Lexa replied lamely. “Going to on Saturday, probably. I think I’m pretty much spending the whole day with her.”

“Oh really?”

“Well, we’re going running in the morning and then I’m going to lunch at her mom’s place – it’s a thing her mom hosts every few weeks or something. Then… I don’t know, I guess we’ll probably go back to her place.”

“Has she been to yours?”

“Nope.”

Anya sighed. “Lexa, you’re meeting her mother this weekend and you haven’t taken her back to your place yet?”

“Anya, it hasn’t been  _ that _ long since we started dating.”

“Yeah, and I’m sorry to say, Lexa, but that doesn’t matter. If she likes you this much already, there’s no reason she shouldn’t be able to go over to your place,” Anya insisted. “She’s not into you because you have money – how could she even know you have money? That’s not going to change because she sees your awesome apartment.”

Lexa pursed her lips, her eyes focused on the road. Exhaling finally, she replied, “I know. I guess… I don’t know, I just really want things to work with Clarke and me. She’s…  _ god _ , I don’t know, stunning? Physically and otherwise. If something fucked it up already…”

“If you ask me –“

“I didn’t.”

“ – I’d say that you have a bigger risk of messing it up by deliberately avoiding taking her back to your apartment than by letting her in on the fact that you’re a badass who rakes in cash because you fucking earned it,” Anya finished. “And Lexa, you know that anyone you date… if they think of you any differently after finding that out, they’re fucking awful and you deserve better.”

Lexa sighed. “I know.”

“Alright then. Have a good dinner with blondie, text me tomorrow?”

“Definitely. Bye, Anya.”

“See you, Lex.”

* * *

Lexa met Clarke for dinner at the taco place she’d selected for them to go to, and Lexa was incredibly happy with the food and, of course, the company. After her conversation with Anya, Lexa found herself determined to try and open up more to the blonde. They had some brief small talk at the start of dinner, and then Clarke asked Lexa how the rest of her workday had been, and Lexa found her opportunity.

“It was long,” she admitted, “but I managed to get lots of the paperwork done. My boss – Jenna – is kind of crazy. She’s… well, I’m the assistant chief of the magazine, so –“

“Wait, what?” Clarke asked in surprise, her eyes bugging slightly. “I think you failed to mention that before…”

Lexa laughed lightly, hoping that Clarke wasn’t upset. She didn’t  _ seem _ upset, but one could never be sure. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess… I don’t know, sometimes I don’t know how people will take it, so I leave it out.”

“I think there’s only one way to take it – that you’re fucking amazing,” Clarke insisted, crossing her arms over her chest and lifting her head slightly in mock haughtiness. “And although I’m slightly offended that you didn’t trust me with this information, I  _ suppose _ I’ll forgive you.”

“Oh good,” Lexa said with a chuckle, her heart rate picking up at Clarke’s adorableness. “May I continue?”

“You may.” A smile came to Clarke’s lips as she returned to her normal posture.

“So, my boss, as the chief, gets to basically hand over all of the paperwork to me, since I can do it just as well as her. And I have an assistant, but she mostly takes calls and lines up all the other work I need to do. So every week, Jenna unloads her paperwork on me and well, it’s not fun.”

Clarke nodded slowly in understanding, then her head tilted. “You said you wrote for the magazine. Do you still get to do that so high up?”

Lexa shrugged. “Sometimes. I make the time if I can. But definitely not as often as I’d want to. But it’s okay, I still love my job, because I love the magazine, and I definitely want to keep climbing the ladder and all that. So it’s worth it. And that’s why I try to write in my free time, too. You know?”

Clarke nodded again. “I think that’s awesome. And pretty badass, actually.”

“Badass, huh?”

“Yeah. I mean, I knew you looked hot in the business suits and shit, but this makes it like,  _ ten _ times sexier,” Clarke insisted, her eyes darkening slightly as she smirked at the brunette.

Lexa flushed, but tried to keep her cool. “I guess I’ll need to remember that then…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you forget.”

* * *

Feeling immensely better about everything after her dinner date with Clarke, Lexa felt her spirits high as she kissed the blonde goodnight later. Though, she was definitely disappointed to be going home to her own bed that night.

But maybe she would bring Clarke back to that bed this weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I will definitely tweet out whether or not there will be an update next Sunday, so follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana to keep up with that :D  
> I am so appreciative of all of you keeping up with this story, I love all of your comments (and I try to reply to most of them), as well as kudos, or even just reading. So thank you so much, and I hope you all have a lovely week! For me, it's finals crunch time (...not today, I'll start tomorrow haha) xx


	9. I Don't Wanna Waste No Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa spend Saturday together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies, I'm sorry this took me forever to get to you guys. And because it took me so long, it became way longer than I intended it to be, so there's that at least? I ended up calling it finished before I got to the original ending, because I was late to posting the sneak peek on Thursday and it was already so long. But what was going to be the end of this chapter will be in the next chapter :)  
> Gonna mention a few things in the end note so make sure to peep down there before you leave after reading :)
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

****Friday night found Clarke out at a work party with Octavia, who seemed to pretty much only be there for the food and drinks. And Clarke didn’t really blame her – a lot of her coworkers seemed pretty boring, and the party was the kind playing classical music intended to keep people from being too wild.

Of course, Octavia Blake couldn’t be tamed by a little bit of classical music.

“So, at what age do you think you’ll probably stop partying like you’re in college still?” Clarke teased, raising her eyebrows at her best friend, who was taking down a shot at the bar. They were at some fancy hotel in downtown LA, and when they’d gotten there, Clarke had only been able to think about how close it was to Lexa’s work, and possibly her apartment.

Clarke thought about Lexa pretty much all the time.

“Shut up, it’s been a stressful as hell week, and I’ve been waiting for this free booze opportunity, okay?” Octavia insisted, eyebrows furrowed. Clarke took a small sip from her wine glass. “You’re really only gonna have the one?”

“Maybe a second,” Clarke said with a shrug. “I need to wake up by eight tomorrow, okay? I can’t get drunk.”

“I can’t believe you’re going hiking with this girl, and I haven’t even meet her yet,” Octavia huffed. “Seriously. Next week. Figure something out.”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, O.”

“Seriously, Clarke! This is the longest you’ve gone with seeing someone before I got to meet them!” Octavia whined. “And you _clearly_ like her, she gets to meet your _mom_ before _me_ , for goodness’ sake!”

“I know, okay? I’ll figure something out, don’t worry.” Clarke took a longer sip from her glass now, and Octavia chugged down some more of whatever she was drinking.

“By the way,” the brunette said after a second, “I think we need to set Raven up with someone. She needs it. Or, well, she at least needs to get laid. _At least_.”

“Why’s that?”

“Dude, you’ve been busy with _Lexa_ , so anytime she’d bored she calls me. And she always wants to hang out. Which is _fine_ , but oh my god, I need a break. _I_ need to get laid, in all honesty, but I can’t get laid if I’m always hanging out with Raven. And I _love_ Raven, don’t get me wrong, but still. And I know she has other friends from work and shit, but I also know that she knows she gets clingy when she’s heartbroken, so it makes sense she would get clingy with me and not her work friends. Just. She needs it. Trust me.”

“Alright,” Clarke said, eyes wide now, “slow down there, O. We’ll work on it, alright?”

“ _Thank you_. Now I think I need another one of these.” Clarke looked at Octavia’s drink suspiciously.

“It’s not empty…”

Octavia looked down at her glass as well, seemingly only just realizing that Clarke was right. Narrowing her eyes, she suddenly took back the last of what was in the glass, chugging it for a good couple of seconds. She slammed the now empty glass on the counter. “Not anymore! Bartender, get me another!”

“Please,” Clarke added, looking at the bartender apologetically. The guy just shook his head in amusement at the two of them, and the blonde sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Clarke found herself wide awake way too early in the morning. She was supposed to meet Lexa at their chosen hiking spot at eight in the morning, but it was six, and even though she had gone to sleep pretty late, her blue eyes stared up at the ceiling bright and early.

It wasn’t that she was nervous exactly, but she did have mild reservations about the meeting between her mother and Lexa. Mostly because Abby Griffin, as great as she was, often did have a bit of a big mouth. Plus, some of her friends would be there, of course, which could potentially make it even more awkward.

But Clarke knew that this would be fine, all in all. They were all adults, of course.

Still, she wasn’t able to force herself back to sleep, so she dragged herself out of her bed and just about threw herself into the shower, even though she knew she’d be showering again when she and Lexa came back before going up to Glendale to Abby’s place.

She took her time in the shower, though, knowing that she had a long time before she needed to head out of her apartment. It managed to wake her up fairly well, too, which was nice. Then she just put her hair up in a hasty ponytail and tugged on her usual hiking clothes.

By the time she was pouring herself a bowl of cereal, it was still only seven, giving her still another hour before she needed to be anywhere. Cursing herself again for waking up so early, she tried to busy herself on her phone.

* * *

Clarke stood at her normal hiking spot, waiting for Lexa to appear. The brunette had texted her when she left downtown, with plenty of time to get to the park by eight. It was now just after eight, so Clarke was expecting to see her any minute, and sure enough, it was only a moment later that Lexa appeared from the direction of the parking lot. “Hey,” Clarke called brightly, drawing Lexa’s gaze. She didn’t miss the instant smile that appeared on Lexa’s face – it was infectious, actually, and Clarke felt a wide grin appearing on her own as well.

“Hey yourself,” Lexa said as she approached the woman. “I haven’t gone hiking in a while – I hope I came dressed appropriately?”

As soon as Clarke looked down at Lexa’s outfit, she knew that the brunette had only asked to get her reaction, because Lexa looked _hot_ . Not that she ever didn’t, but it was particularly noticeable in her tight yoga pants and loose, white tank top that showed most of her black sports bra underneath. “Ha, yeah,” Clarke muttered, turning around to avoid the smirk that she could sense was on Lexa’s face. “C’mon, I waited _forever_ for you.”

“Liar,” Lexa argued, immediately appearing beside the blonde as she started walking along her normal trail.

“Basically,” Clarke insisted. “I’ve been up for ages, too.”

Lexa looked at her quizzically. “Why?”

“I dunno. Woke up at like six, couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“Nervous for later?”

Clarke shook her head insistently, although Lexa didn’t look convinced. “I’m not nervous, I guess just… awake?”

Lexa rolled her eyes, picking up her pace a little and forcing Clarke to do the same. “Don’t worry. I have a history of being _loved_ by parents.”

“Oh really? What’s your secret, then?”

Looking at Clarke, Lexa tutted with a shake of her head. “I can’t give away that information, babe. And if we keep this thing going, you won’t even have to worry about it, since I don’t even have any parents for you to meet.”

Clarke blinked. “Am I supposed to laugh at that?”

“Well, it was a joke,” Lexa said with a chuckle. “Okay yeah, maybe it was a sad joke, but it’s true. Plus, I guess _technically_ , I’m kinda close with Anya’s parents. So you can impress them someday.”

Clarke let out a light laugh, shaking her head at the brunette as they continued on the hiking path. She wanted to say something – about this _thing_ Lexa had mentioned. The other woman was clearly picturing Clarke staying in the picture, but the blonde was hesitant to bring it up. It was early in the day, and the last thing she wanted for something to get awkward before Lexa met her mother.

So she didn’t mention it, and they made occasional casual conversation as they hiked, and Clarke was pleasantly surprised at how easily Lexa was able to keep up with her. She was definitely more in shape than Raven one – and the brunette laughed when Clarke told her that. Then the conversation of meeting friends came up again, and Clarke decided that they could possibly meet up for drinks the following Friday night – once Lexa got off work, _if_ she wasn’t too tired. Lexa immediately insisted that she would be wide awake and that she’d love to, which Clarke was only slightly surprised about.

She made a mental note to text Octavia and Raven about it at the next opportunity she got, and Lexa said she’d tell Anya later as well.

Fifteen minutes before ten, they made it back around to the parking lot, split up for the drive, and headed back to Clarke’s apartment. It was a quick drive, and upon getting there, Clarke let her and Lexa into the apartment, and the brunette immediately collapsed unceremoniously onto the couch. “Oh, tired are we?”

“Hey, I don’t do this as often as you,” Lexa insisted with a groan. “I’m gonna be sore as hell tomorrow.”

“If you’re so worn out, I guess you won’t wanna hang out after lunch with my mom…?”

Lexa snapped up now, narrowing her eyes at Clarke. “I didn’t say that.”

“Cool,” Clarke said with a chuckle. “Alright, you and I both need to shower, we stink. I’ll go first?”

“Why does there have to be a first?” Lexa wondered, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at the blonde.

“What happened to being oh so tired?” Clarke asked back, snickering as she walked past Lexa and the couch and into her bedroom. She headed for the closet to grab her change of clothes. Lexa was suddenly following her.

“Um, it was a joke, obviously. I’m never too tired to shower with a beautiful woman,” Lexa insisted, leaning against the wall of Clarke’s room. “We’re not even in a rush, we have plenty of time to get into Glendale.”

“Exactly, so we have plenty of time for each of us to take a shower,” Clarke insisted, smirking at the other woman and walking past her again with her clothes in hand, toward the bathroom.

“Um, I think you are underestimating the speed at which we would shower together. C’mon, you’re telling me that you _don’t_ want a quickie before we go to lunch?” Lexa asked, drawing Clarke’s gaze as she stepped into the bathroom, setting her clothes on the counter. Lexa noticed that she made no move to close the door, and she stood slightly straighter. “Alright, fine.” She grabbed the hem of her tank top and pulled it suddenly over her head, revealing her black sports bra. “Go ahead and shower alone.” Lexa now grabbed the top of her yoga pants, tugging them down and off in one swift motion. “I’ll just be out here, naked.”

Clarke had definitely already been ready to invite Lexa in the shower with her, but watching Lexa try and convince her was definitely worth it. “Okay, okay, we can shower together. But you _better_ not complain about being tired after.”

Lexa grinned. “Oh don’t worry, I won’t. _You_ , on the other hand, might.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”

“Well come over here and let’s find out.”

* * *

Lexa was right – the shower together definitely took longer than two separate showers. However, she’d also been correct in the fact that they didn’t need to rush to get to Clarke’s mom’s place. They were dressed and ready to go right on time, and then Clarke drove them both to Glendale. They got there at eleven-thirty on the dot, and Clarke felt herself getting _slightly_ nervous now that they were here. But it was too late to dwell on those nerves at all, so she just pushed them aside.

She led Lexa up to her mother’s front door and then knocked loudly. She heard some noises from the kitchen, then nothing, and then the door swung open. “Clarke! You’re actually on time!” Abby teased with a grin.

“You joke about that every time, but I’ve only ever been late like, twice,” Clarke insisted with an eyeroll, accepting the hug that her mom was offering, arms wide. As soon as she pulled away, she looked at Lexa with a smile. “This is Lexa. Lexa, this is my mom, Abby.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Lexa said brightly, extending a hand to the older woman, who shook it enthusiastically.

“Please come on in, both of you. Obviously no one else is here – won’t be for another half hour. I’m just moving food from the store containers onto plates,” Abby told them casually, stepping back to let them into the house.

“As you can see, I get my inability to cook from my mother,” Clarke told the brunette, who quirked up an amused eyebrow before glancing around the house.

“It’s true,” Abby said dismissively. “Come on into the kitchen – Clarke, can you grab cups from the cabinet and put them over on the table?”

“Sure.” Clarke followed her mom into the kitchen, Lexa right behind her.

“You have a really lovely home,” Lexa said to Abby, who beamed at her.

“Thank you! I really love hosting guests, or else it starts to feel too big for just me. Of course, the reason I kept a big house was just in case Clarke ever decides to have kids, and that’s all still up in the air,” Abby teased with a shake of her head. “But it’s a nice house, and who knows, maybe I’ll end up paying it all of it and then when I’m old and decide to move to a paradise island, I’ll sell it for a bunch of cash.”

Lexa laughed at the older Griffin, and Clarke just shook her head at her mom. “You’re crazy, mom.”

“Hey, but am I wrong? No. Anyway, that’s why I always do these lunches – it’s an opportunity to share all the space. So I’m really glad Clarke invited you – she used to invite Octavia and Raven too, but I guess with everyone being so busy all the time…”

Clarke chuckled. “Honestly, they’re both pretty free lately, and I’m sure Raven would jump at the chance to have lunch here.”

“Oh god – I forgot, she’s single again,” Abby muttered with an eyeroll.

Lexa lifted her eyebrows curiously. “What’s this about?”

“Raven totally has a thing for my mom,” Clarke explained, rolling her eyes as she glanced at Lexa. “It’s kind of ridiculous, she jokes about it a lot when she’s single and I have to threaten her to get her to stop.”

“Oh god. Your friends sound more and more interesting every time I hear about them.” Lexa scrunched her nose slightly, and Clarke laughed lightly at how cute it was.

“Oh, have you not met them?” Abby asked curiously, getting a shake of Lexa’s head as a response. “Yes, they’re definitely _interesting_. Octavia has been Clarke’s best friend since forever, though, so they’re beyond close. Raven came around – what, sometime around when you finished college, Clarke?”

“Yeah,” Clarke answered with a shrug. By now, she was placing cups on the table as per her mother’s request, and Lexa was leaning against the counter as Abby continued plating food. She could practically sense that Lexa wanted to be helping somehow, and she was about to say something to address it, but it was as if Abby sensed it as well.

“Here, Lexa, would you mind putting these platters on the table?”

“Not at all,” Lexa answered quickly, standing up straighter and pushing away from the counter, grabbing one of the platters and starting toward the table. Clarke flashed the woman a warm smile, which Lexa returned instantly.

“But yes, Clarke, you definitely need to invite Octavia and Raven to my next lunch, alright? Or else I will call them myself.”

Clarke gave her mom an amused look. “Alright, mom, will do.”

They finished helping Abby set the table with the food and plates, and at exactly noon, the doorbell rang. Abby rushed to invite in her friends, who all seemed to arrive at exactly noon on the dot. Maybe that came from being a doctor, Clarke thought. Either way, it meant that they got to eat quicker, and after brief greetings, they all sat around the table and began to eat.

* * *

Lunch was nicer than Clarke expected – and she’d actually expected it to go fairly well. Despite the fact that one of the doctors there was a man that Abby had formerly tried to set up with Clarke, there was no awkwardness there at all. The guy quickly noticed that Lexa and Clarke were dating – they were probably pretty obvious, because Clarke was pretty sure that she accidentally stared for too long at Lexa quite a few times. She hadn’t considered this aspect of spending time with Lexa among other people, and she would have to make sure to tone down on it when she was with her friends.

Lexa fit right in to all of the conversation, for the most part, although Clarke felt like there was a bit of a mask on the brunette while she spoke with the doctors. Like maybe she was trying to make sure that they didn’t get a glimpse of her past. Clarke wondered if she’d been wearing that mask when she first met Clarke, but she couldn’t remember well enough.

When lunch wrapped up, the doctors all said goodbye to each other and their host, and then they each headed out. Afterward, Lexa and Clarke helped Abby clear the table and start the dishes, chatting away – Abby often liked to fill Clarke in on the recent hospital gossip. Lexa got to hear all about it as well this time, and the brunette seemed to find it amusing that Abby was so interested in the gossip.

About half an hour after the rest of the guests had left, the kitchen was cleaned up and Clarke initiated the process of leaving her mother’s house. “Well, we should probably head out,” she said to Abby, who immediately let out a little puff of air.

“I guess, yeah. And I have a shift tonight, so I should probably get some more sleep before I go in.”

“So Clarke gets her workaholic genetics from you?” Lexa teased, and Abby laughed, nodding.

“Oh definitely. Her father was never as much of a workaholic as I am. Nine to five, then home for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, my job always had weird hours, so it was too easy to get roped into extra long shifts and all that,” Abby said with a shrug. “I keep telling Clarke not to end up like me, but.”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “I’m _not_ a workaholic.”

“Whatever you say, sweetie,” Abby teased, eliciting a smile from Lexa and an shake of Clarke’s head. “Okay, well let me walk you guys out.” They headed for the door, and Abby looked to the brunette. “It was lovely to meet you, Lexa.”

“You too,” Lexa returned brightly.

“I’ll call you sometime next week?” Clarke said to Abby, who nodded and opened her arms for a hug. Clarke obliged quickly, and was surprised to suddenly hear Abby mumbling in her ear.

“You didn’t tell me how great she was!”

Clarke blushed, even though Lexa definitely hadn’t heard her mother – her green eyes were turned down at her phone at the moment. “Thanks for lunch, mom,” she said in return, pulling out of the hug. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Clarke. Don’t forget to call me! And ask Raven and Octavia about lunch!”

“Will do.” They opened the door, gave a final goodbye to Clarke’s mom, and then the door closed, and they were left to their own devices for the rest of the day. Clarke was about to open her mouth to say something – some sort of suggestion for what they could do for the rest of the day together – but Lexa beat her to it.

“So, I was thinking,” the woman said, turning to Clarke as they started down to the car, “that maybe if you’re tired of takeout and restaurant food, I can cook something for us tonight? We can go to the store, grab some stuff to make, and go back to my place?”

Clarke lifted a curious eyebrow. “Hmm, that sounds like fun. And I guess it would be cool to not eat takeout for once. Plus, I’ve never seen your place.”

“Yeah,” Lexa agreed, smiling a small smile. Clarke thought she maybe noticed some hesitation in the brunette, but before she could question it, Lexa continued, “We can go back to your place first and switch cars?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

They got to the grocery store shortly after leaving Clarke’s apartment in Lexa’s car. Clarke was already excited for the rest of the day, because lately she really couldn’t get her mind off of this incredible woman. And tonight, she was really hoping she’d gather the confidence to ask Lexa to be her girlfriend. She _wanted_ this to be official. She hadn’t had something like that in a long time, and Lexa was… Clarke couldn’t even fully explain her connection with the brunette. But she knew that if she was finally going to try this relationship thing again, Lexa was a perfect person to do it with.

She just needed Lexa to be feeling the same way, and she was pretty sure that she was… but still, Clarke had nerves about it. She was tempted to wait until Lexa brought up the conversation of exclusivity, but Clarke _knew_ what she wanted, and she was the kind of person to go after it. So she would.

But first – grocery shopping.

“What sounds good to you?” Lexa wondered, green eyes bouncing over to the blonde as they walked in between some of the aisles in the store. Clarke hummed thoughtfully, though she wasn’t thinking so much about food. Lexa’s eyes on her were distracting her, tinting her cheeks pink and getting her thoughts to slip elsewhere. “ _Clarke_.”

“I don’t really care what we eat,” Clarke insisted, “so just pick whatever you’re good at making.”

Lexa pursed her lips for a moment, and Clarke thought she was going to argue. Instead, the woman just grabbed Clarke’s hand and tugged her down an aisle all of the sudden. “You like lasagna?” she was asking.

“Of course, who do you think I am?”

Lexa laughed, shaking her head.  “Anya doesn’t like lasagna. It’s honestly such an inconvenience – every time I’m with her, I crave it, and she really doesn’t like it.”

“ _Why_? Does she hate puppies too?” Clarke asked incredulously, eliciting an adorable laugh from the brunette.

“No, she doesn’t hate puppies,” Lexa promised with a shake of her head. “Alright, we’re looking for lasagna noodles. I have most of the stuff for the sauce at my place already, but we’ve gotta get the meat and a couple more veggies. And _you_ can pick out some wine.”

“Ooh, okay. Well, I’ll make sure to pick something white so that you can handle it.” Clarke winked at the brunette, who immediately feigned offense, her jaw dropping.

“Excuse you,” Lexa said back, although it was clear she didn’t have much to say in her defense. She’d already admitted to vastly preferring white wine. Lexa just shook her head, intertwining her fingers with Clarke’s and tugging her through the aisle.

They finally found lasagna pasta, and then they went by the produce section to grab some fresh vegetables. On the way to the meat section, they passed the pastries, and Lexa must’ve noticed Clarke eyeing one of the cheesecake platters, because they ended up grabbing that too. And by that point, they had to grab a handheld basket from the front of the store before going to the meat section and getting ground beef.

Last, but definitely not least, they stopped in the wine section, and Clarke began poking around for her favorite white wine. It was a bit pricey, though, so as she looked for it, she glanced at Lexa and said, “Let me pay for the wine?”

“No, I can cover it,” Lexa insisted.

“ _Lexa_.”

“ _Clarke_.”

“Please?” Clarke asked, crossing her arms over her chest and freezing where she was. “You’re already paying for the groceries and making me food. Let me get the wine… and the cheesecake?”

Lexa sighed. “Alright, fine.”

A grin spread across Clarke’s face, and she leaned forward spontaneously, planting a sweet kiss on the corner of Lexa’s lips. The brunette, though surprised, chuckled and then immediately reacted, leaning forward as Clarke leaned away and recapturing her lips in a real kiss. After a few seconds, they broke apart, and Clarke continued her wine hunt.

“You’re too cute,” Lexa informed her, shaking her head. Clarke could see those green eyes watching her, and a blush spread across her cheeks. She finally found the bottle she was looking for, and she grabbed it happily and turned to the other woman.

“Alright, I’m ready if you’re ready.”

They went to the checkout lines and Clarke took the wine and cheesecake over to one cashier while Lexa got the rest at another. Then they met back up and headed out to where Lexa had parked.

The drive over to Lexa’s place was quiet, and Clarke could tell that something was on the brunette’s mind. She thought maybe it had to do with going back to Lexa’s apartment, and she thought about mentioning it. Before she did, though, she tried to think if there was any former conversation she’d had about Lexa’s apartment. She could only remember one – Lexa had suggested that she didn’t usually take girls back to her apartment. So maybe it was just a thing with her…

Clarke didn’t like just thinking about it, so she took in a deep breath and asked, “Are you okay? You seem kind of quiet all the sudden.”

Lexa glanced over at the blonde from the driver’s seat. “I’m okay.” She didn’t offer any more explanation.

“Okay… you sure?”

“Yes, I promise,” Lexa insisted. Clarke nodded, deciding not to push Lexa on it. If the brunette wanted to talk about it – if there even was an _it_ – she would. If not… Clarke wasn’t about to fight her on it.

They were nearing the middle of downtown LA when Lexa turned into a parking garage underneath a high rise. Clarke couldn’t tell if the high rise was an apartment building or not, but she didn’t ask, and once they were parked, they grabbed the grocery bags and clambered out of Lexa’s car.

Lexa led Clarke from the parking garage into the building above them, at which point Clarke confirmed that it was an apartment building. “Alright, we’re going up,” Lexa said, leading her to the elevator. Clarke followed her, her eyebrows raising only slightly when Lexa hit the top floor button. Things were starting to click now – at least, Clarke thought she maybe had an idea of why Lexa was on edge about this.

It wasn’t _super_ surprising, in retrospect, when Clarke walked into Lexa’s penthouse. The brunette did work very high up at a magazine, so Clarke should’ve expected that she had decent money. And it was just her that she was supporting.

Still, Clarke went slightly bug eyed when she saw the place.

“Oh my god, this is beautiful,” Clarke murmured in awe. Lexa chuckled, closing the door quietly behind them.

“Thanks,” she said sweetly. “Let’s put these things away before they get too warm.” Lexa was making her way toward the fridge, but Clarke was still taking the whole space in. The kitchen was huge, beautiful, and the living room had a huge TV, a nice and comfy looking couch, and the rug… Clarke was pretty sure she could sleep on the rug.

Lexa probably _didn’t_ sleep on the rug, though, however comfy it was, and Clarke couldn’t figure out exactly where the bedroom was. There weren’t any doors on any of the walls in this main area. Just the one entryway and the huge windows across from it. Then she saw the hallway over by the windows that, presumably, led to the bedroom, and she was no longer confused.

“You okay over there?” Lexa asked softly, and when Clarke redirected her gaze to the beautiful woman, she saw conflicting feelings across her face.

“Yep,” Clarke confirmed, bringing the groceries in her hand over to Lexa, who took them from her and put them in the fridge.

“So I guess I didn’t think about the fact that we just ate and we definitely shouldn’t have dinner now,” Lexa said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Well… this is your place, any suggestions of something we can do to entertain ourselves until it is a more appropriate dinner time?” Clarke asked, leaning against the granite and lifting her eyebrows at Lexa. She kept her full attention on the brunette, and Lexa seemed calmer due to it.

“Hm, let’s see. Well firstly, I think we need wine. But we’ll save yours for dinner, so let’s see what I have.” Lexa opened her fridge again, Clarke watching her movements. Lexa really was extraordinarily beautiful, but her ability to captivate Clarke was due to so much more than that. It was her drive in life, her seemingly carefree but so careful attitude, her passion and her brightness. Clarke felt herself falling so easily for this woman, and she knew that she shouldn’t be. But she was. “Well, turns out I’ve only got one other bottle, and it’s brand new. We won’t need more than one, you think?”

Clarke smiled, quirking an eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?” The question got a laugh out of Lexa, who closed the fridge, a bottle of wine now in her hand. She set it on the counter and opened a cabinet to retrieve two wine glasses.

“No, it’s not,” Lexa denied. “ _But_ , if we do finish it, we can always just start yours.” She poured two generous glasses of the wine, then handing one off to Clarke. “Just means less for us during dinner.”

“I think we don’t need to finish more than two bottles of wine in a day anyway,” Clarke reasoned, holding her glass toward Lexa. The brunette nodded in agreement, a smile on her face as she clinked her glass gently against Clarke’s.

“How about a movie?” Lexa suggested, glancing over at her TV. “That thing doesn’t get as much use as it should.”

“Whatever you wanna do, babe,” Clarke heard herself answer. And she meant it – she could be doing anything right now and it wouldn’t matter, because she was sipping good wine with this incredible woman and she couldn’t be happier.

“Alright, but you’ve been giving me most of the decisions today, so I’m gonna have to ask you to pick the movie,” Lexa teased, stepping around Clarke but not enough that she didn’t gently brush her arm against the blonde’s. Clarke turned as Lexa passed her, and she watched her walk toward the living room, wine glass in hand. “I’ll pull up Netflix.”

Fifteen minutes later found them ten minutes into a sci-fi movie that Clarke had found that looked interesting. But Clarke wasn’t really paying much attention, because after taking off her shoes at Lexa’s insistence, she’d gotten comfortable sitting with her legs over Lexa’s lap. Lexa, with her hand that wasn’t holding her wine glass, had her fingers tracing little shapes on Clarke’s skin. She was honestly so grateful to her earlier self for putting on capri pants instead of long ones.

They both got a refill on their wine before the movie ended, and once the credits started rolling, Clarke finally stopped forcing her attention to be away from the beautiful girl who was next to her. “You’re very distracting, by the way,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Really? How so?” Lexa asked, her fingers now still against Clarke’s leg.

“I dunno, you’re just _you_. It’s distracting.”

Lexa oh so tempting lips turned up into an amused smile. “I’m sorry?”

“No, don’t apologize,” Clarke insisted, drinking down the rest of her wine before leaning over and setting the now empty glass on the coffee table. “You just owe me something.”

Lexa set her glass down as well, probably anticipating where this was going. “Oh do I?” Clarke didn’t say anything in response, just stealing one of her legs off of Lexa’s lap and then suddenly sitting up and straddling the brunette on the couch. Their lips were joined before either of them had time to think, Lexa’s hands sliding up Clarke’s back only to slide back down, all the way down to her ass, pulling her impossibly closer. Lexa tried taking control of the kiss, but Clarke wouldn’t let her, and she heard the brunette groan in opposition. She felt Lexa gripping strongly onto the back of her thighs now, and she quickly realized what Lexa was about to do.

There wasn’t anything she could do by that point to resist, though, as Clarke was suddenly forced off of Lexa and onto the couch next to her, the brunette, all of the sudden, on top of her. All thoughts were wiped from Clarke’s mind as Lexa successfully took control of the kiss and her body. They spread across the couch, Lexa’s thigh sliding in between Clarke’s and coming up against her center. Clarke released a quiet moan, her hand moving to Lexa’s waist.

All of the sudden, the sound of a new movie starting surprised both of them, and Lexa abruptly pulled away from the blonde. “Shit, that scared me,” she muttered, glancing over at her TV, where Netflix had assumed that they wanted to watch some other sci-fi movie now.

Clarke caught her breath, laying there uselessly, as Lexa turned off the TV. When green eyes turned back to look at her, the blonde let out a soft chuckle. “I have a feeling we probably should stop there for now anyway – or else I have a feeling that we’ll skip dinner.”

“You probably have a point,” Lexa mused, leaning back against the other end of the couch as Clarke sat up. “Should we finish off that bottle?”

“Definitely.” Lexa hopped up at that, grabbing both of their glasses and moving into the kitchen. Clarke used the opportunity to glance around the apartment – the penthouse – again. She was afraid to mention anything of it to Lexa, but she also wanted to understand what was up about it. Clearly, Lexa had something on her mind about it, and especially after that look she’d seen on Lexa’s face earlier… Clarke had to address it.

“This is a beautiful apartment,” she said finally, shifting her gaze to where Lexa was splitting the last of the wine between two glasses.

“Thank you,” Lexa returned quietly, already more reserved. “I thought… well, I felt like I deserved to do something nice for myself once I had a steady job and a steady pay – especially since… I never expected to get paid enough for something like this. I exceeded my own – and probably everyone’s – expectations of myself. So.”

“I think it’s major proof that you’re a total badass,” Clarke commented, and Lexa smiled now, meeting Clarke’s gaze as she started back to the couch. She handed Clarke’s glass to the blonde and then sat across the couch from her. Their legs tangled together in between them, and they each took a sip from their glass at the same time.

Clarke could tell that Lexa was thinking about what to say next, and finally, she lowered her glass to her lap and spoke. “I don’t usually like taking people here. When I brought women in the past here too early in the relationship, lots of them would get all hung up on the money and shit like that. So I would wait a while before taking someone back here. And then… well, you remember what I said about my last long term relationship? She was using me – both emotionally and kind of financially. I really loved her, and _damn_ did she know it.”

“That’s terrible,” Clarke murmured softly, a look of concern written over her face.

Lexa nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess… I mean, it was. But it was fine. I just kind of associate that sort of thing with bringing people here – especially people that I care about. Like there’s always that thought… the what ifs and all that.”

Clarke brought her wine glass to her lips and took a long drink, trying to think of what exactly to say to the brunette right now. As soon as her glass was lowered, she released a sigh. “I get that. And people are seriously assholes. Not you, though. You’re _so_ thoughtful and sweet and smart and funny and determined and beautiful and…  I could go on forever. And even if I’d seen this apartment the first night I met you, I’m pretty sure it couldn’t have at all changed how I view you.” Her gaze was locked with an intense green one, but couldn’t read what Lexa was thinking.

“Clarke, you’re… I don’t know, so _different_ . So different from anyone I’ve ever met,” Lexa claimed, sounding like she was having trouble stringing together the words. “And in an amazing way, of course, I just… can’t wrap my head around it, and…” She paused, glancing away from Clarke for a moment, her gaze landing in about six different places before finally coming back to the steady blue one. “I really can’t imagine not having met you now that I have. I’m not used to having very many people in my life at all, let alone people who make me feel _so_ happy just by being around them. And I really can’t thank you enough for that, but really what I want to do is… well, what I’m so fucking scared of is something fucking this up before we barely even get a start.”

Lexa’s admission almost left Clarke’s speechless, and it took her a second to realize that she’d stopped talking. “What are you afraid will fuck it up?” Clarke asked, voice quiet.

“I don’t know… me? I haven’t felt like this about anyone in a long time, and I didn’t expect to feel like this about _you_ when I first saw you. And it hasn’t even been _that_ long since that night either,” Lexa murmured, shaking her head, her eyes closing. “I’m crazy, I know. I just… I’m just…”

“Lexa.” Green eyes slowly reopened, focusing on Clarke’s easily, like they were drawn by magnets. “All of what you said… it’s mutual. It’s been a _long_ time since I dated anyone, and an even longer time since I was _so_ … absorbed by anyone. You’re really something else, Lexa, and I don’t want to lose this… _you_ , either.”

“I was thinking, and trying to figure out when to ask you this, but… are we exclusive? Do you want to be exclusive? Because I think –“

“Yes,” Clarke stated instantly, surprising the brunette a little. “I do want to be, if you do, too. And well, if you don’t, then –“

“No, I do.”

A grin broke out on Clarke’s face, and she leaned forward slightly, lifting her wine glass. “So… here’s to _girlfriends_?”

Lexa smiled as well, bringing her glass up to Clarke’s for their second toast of the day. “To _being_ girlfriends,” she agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! They're girlfriends!! :D I'm so excited to keep delving into this story, but things around my house have been CRAZY lately, because we're moving, and other things are going on, and just yeah, lots of things. It's been a little hard for me to focus on writing for long periods of time, which is what made this take so long, but I promise I'm doing my best to keep weekly updates. I HATE missing update days, so rest assured that I'm writing as fast as I can!  
> Couple things:  
> 1\. Possibly no update next week because I will be out of town from Friday to Monday this weekend (going on a trip with my girlfriend and her family!), so depends on whether I've finished the chapter and drafted the whole update so I can do it from my phone.  
> 2\. I'm thinking that maybe for my next story, I might change what day I update on. Right now it's Sunday afternoons/nights usually, but I know that usually means lots of people can't read until Monday, but Monday is a school/work day, so... What do you guys think? What days would you like updates?  
> 3\. To get an immediate notification of when I update (since I know Ao3 notifications are sometimes late etc), you can follow my Patreon [ Tori Ann (ToriWritesStories) ] :)
> 
> Alright lovelies, that's all. Thank you all SO much for taking time out your busy schedules to read this story, I seriously appreciate it and I really appreciate all of the comments and kudos I've gotten from you beautiful humans as well! I hope you all have a lovely week!! xx


	10. Beautiful, Beautiful Night Right Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Clarke and Lexa's big Saturday together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies!! I know what you're thinking: Tori!! Where the hell have you been!! It's been like a billion years!! The last time you took a month to post anything at all was like 2015!!  
> I'm really very sorry that this took me so long. Trust me, the last thing I ever want to do is not write and not update, especially this many weeks in a row. Since you last heard from me, I went on a brief vacation with my girlfriend and her family where I had no computer and no new chapter ready. Then, three days after I got back, my family had finished packing up and cleaning our house, and we moved 3 hours away. But our new house wasn't ready, so we were living with my older sister and her family (she has three kids and three dogs plus our dogs were there it was a crazy place to be and we were there for 6 days idk it was a lot it's fine lol). Then, on the day we closed on our new house, one of our doggies passed away (rest in peace, Ezra <3). As soon as we closed on our new house, we drove to Fort Worth, bc my other sister was having a baby. Then we came back, my dad and I spent a week painting my mom's art room while I was in the process of getting a job. I got the job, and since then, I've been working and unpacking, and trying to find time in between to relax. Plus, there's some other personal things that have been going on, and I could go on about that forever, but I won't hold you all up any longer.  
> So all of that is why a) this update is shorter than the previous one and b) why it took forever for me to finish it lol.
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** It was into the evening when they started dinner.

Lexa quickly realized that Clarke really didn’t trust herself to do anything in terms of cooking, even though at first, the blonde kept trying to offer to help. When she handed the blonde a knife and a cutting board, it became apparent that the woman had no idea how to handle said knife, and Lexa hurriedly revoked the duty from her girlfriend and sat her down at one of the bar stools.

“I told you, I can’t cook for shit,” Clarke insisted as Lexa began to chop up the vegetables – tomatoes and mushrooms – for the lasagna.

“And I believed you, so you shouldn’t have offered to help,” Lexa teased in response. She felt Clarke’s eyes on her as she skillfully finished the task, then setting down the knife and moving back over to the stove, where she had the noodles cooking as well as the ground beef in marinara sauce. After checking both things, she went over to the chopped tomatoes and mushrooms and added them to her sauce, as well as some seasonings.

“I can’t remember the last time I watched someone  _ actually _ cook a meal,” Clarke admitted suddenly.

Lexa lifted her eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah. I guess maybe my dad used to cook for us – I don’t really remember. He cooks for his new family,” Clarke said with a shrug. “Well, I guess they aren’t his  _ new _ family now. It’s been over ten years, so.”

Lexa nodded. “I understand. So do you… you don’t see your dad often?”

“I think I’ve seen him… five times since his wedding, which was… eleven years ago, I think,” Clarke admitted, and as she spoke, Lexa continued working on the lasagna. “Yeah, he never wants to come here, and… I don’t know, I’ve always used school or work as an excuse to not go up to San Francisco to see him. But I visited when he had my half-brother – I was sixteen. And then, yeah, about four times during summers I went up and saw him for a week or so. But his wife had a kid a few years younger than me when they got married, and my dad treats her as basically his daughter, which is fine… but I used to get kind of pissed off at her because of it. So I hated visiting while she was still living at home with them.”

“That’s a lot to handle as a teenager,” Lexa commented, nodding and turning to face the blonde again. “It must have felt like she stole him.”

“Yeah. And I already didn’t see him much before he got remarried, so… I guess just the idea that he’d could adopt not only a whole new life, but a whole new family, and not even care very much about his old one?” Clarke shook her head. Her blue eyes settled on Lexa for a moment, and the brunette knew what she was going to say before she did. “It must sound stupid to you, though, since…”

Lexa shook her head. “It’s okay. I mean, yeah I had it pretty rough. But I had one foster family for about… six years, I think. They usually never fostered any kids that long, but they really liked me, and I fit in with them pretty well. They were in the process of adopting me – I was fifteen – and then my foster dad got laid off from his job, and they could barely support the four of them, let alone  _ me _ . They felt really bad that I had to slip back into the system, and I was really mad too. I kind of spiraled for about a year after that, and then I used all the anger to fuel my motivation to get out, and when I got emancipated, I didn’t let anything hold me back anymore.”

“So… did you fall out of touch with that foster family?”

Turning back to the food to make sure nothing was burning, Lexa let out a soft sigh. “Since I was a young teenager at the time of leaving them, I couldn’t at all understand how little of a choice they had. I was  _ so _ mad, so I did my best to cut them off completely. When I turned seventeen, I contacted them again, but it wasn’t ever the same. A few texts back and forth. They helped give me some tips on applying for college. And then I was all the way in LA and they were still in New York… and I pretty much stopped talking to them in college. I mean… I’m Facebook friends with all of them, it’s not like we are complete strangers. But not family, not like we could’ve been. That said, I don’t think I’d go back and do it over again if I could somehow make it so they would’ve been able to adopt me. I think I ended up where I was supposed to be – even though I’m not really sure there is a  _ supposed to be _ for anyone. I don’t know.”

“I can’t imagine any of that…” Clarke murmured softly. “I’m sorry, Lexa.”

Lexa looked over her shoulder, smiling at the blonde. “It’s okay. I’m all the better for it, I guess. I was sad about it all for a long time, but then I realized that it doesn’t help to be hung up on things like that forever. The first seventeen years of my life… in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that much. And I was a lot luckier than some kids in the system. I figured I should be grateful for what I have now, and just keep on doing as best as I can at life and all that.”

“Well, you’re clearly doing a pretty good job at it.”

“I suppose you’re right…” Lexa smiled to herself now. “I’ve got a pretty hot girlfriend, so there’s an accomplishment.”

“Mm, I guess so, yeah.” A blush had spread across Clarke’s cheeks, and Lexa glanced behind her just in time to catch it. It elicited a chuckle from the brunette, who was just about ready to start layering her lasagna before putting it in the oven. “Just wanna let you know as a fair warning, this might be the best lasagna you’ve ever had.”

“Oh really, the  _ best _ ?”

“ _ Really _ . I’d brace yourself.”

“I definitely will.”

It took half an hour for Lexa to layer the lasagna and bake it, and they entertained some lighter conversation while it cooked. Lexa was learning more and more that she could listen to Clarke talk about anything for any amount of time, and she would easily be able to listen intently the whole time.

Shortly before the dinner was ready, Clarke asked, “Do you mind if I use your bathroom real quick?”

“Of course not,” Lexa said, “it’s just around the corner there, connected to the bedroom area.” Clarke nodded gratefully, got up from the barstool she’d been sitting at and disappeared toward Lexa’s bedroom. The brunette let out a breath. Trying to keep herself occupied while Clarke was in the bathroom, she grabbed her phone and checked her messages. Unsurprisingly, she had quite a few from Anya.

**Anya – So how was meeting blondie’s mom?**

**Anya – You said you were bringing her to your apartment after?**

**Anya – Let me know how it goes.**

**Anya – And if all goes well I expect a proper meeting soon, which you know, but I’m just reminding you.**

**Lexa – Meeting her mom was really good! We’ve been back at the apartment a little while. Finished a bottle of wine watching a movie, now we’re finishing up making lasagna, opening another bottle. It’s been a good day.**

**Anya – Ooh get it girl. I’m glad taking her back to your place has been positive so far**

**Anya – Oh and invite her to the engagement party as your date.**

**Anya – That’s not a suggestion, it’s an order.**

**Anya – Love ya, talk later!**

Lexa had already been thinking about that, and it wasn’t really a question as to whether or not she was going to do it. Clarke was her girlfriend now officially, though they’d basically been exclusive since they met each other, and it only made sense to invite her to Luna’s engagement party.

Clarke reappeared from around the corner a minute later. “Your bed looks really comfy,” the blonde commented, before Lexa could say anything.

“It is,” Lexa agreed. “I’ll make sure you spend some quality time in it though, just to be sure.”

A bright laugh escaped Clarke’s lips as her cheeks flushed. “Can’t wait. Is the lasagna done?” Lexa turned around to face the oven, opening it slightly to glance in and check on the meal. Sure enough, it looked perfect, and she grabbed her oven mitts to pull it out.

“It’s done,” she said, as she set it on the counter. “We should probably let it cool for a minute. In the meantime, I guess we’ll open that second bottle of wine?”

“Sounds good to me. I know from experience that it goes great with Italian food.  _ Plus _ , it’s my favorite white wine,” Clarke informed the brunette seriously, and Lexa quirked up an eyebrow.

“Really? I’m excited to try it, then.” She had already rinsed and dried their wine glasses, so she opened up the new bottle and poured two generous glasses of the liquid. They had their third toast of the day, to nothing in specific, and Lexa noticed that Clarke only took a small sip, her bright eyes focused on Lexa as she tasted the wine. “Hmm, it’s pretty good. It’s a little dryer than most white wine though, I think.”

“I guess it’s not your favorite then?”

“No, but I like it,” Lexa answered amusedly. She set her wine glass down gently, closer toward where Clarke was sitting but at the place next to the blonde. “I’ll make us some plates of lasagna.” She felt blue eyes on her as she turned around and grabbed two plates from a nearby cabinet, then scooping a serving of the hot lasagna on each of them. “I guess we probably should’ve made something to go with it.”

“It’s okay,” Clarke insisted, “I’m sure it’ll be enough. There’s only two of us, after all.”

Lexa turned back around, the two plates in her hands and a smile on her face. “You make a valid point.” She set the plates down on the bar before grabbing silverware and walking around to sit next to the blonde. She handed a fork to Clarke, who took it, and then they both dove into the meal.

“Oh my god,” Clarke practically moaned as she chewed and swallowed her first bite. “Okay, this is definitely the best lasagna I’ve ever had. And,” she paused, taking a sip of her wine, “it goes  _ amazingly _ with this wine.”

Lexa chuckled, taking a second bite of her portion before sipping the wine. She nodded in agreement slowly. “It’s pretty good. You might also just be a little drunk, though.”

“No way,” Clarke denied, “I’m not drunk. It takes a lot more than half a bottle of wine to get me drunk.”

“Oh really?”

Clarke nodded firmly, taking another bite of her food, and her eyes practically rolled up into her head as she released another moan-like sound at the taste. Lexa had to force her eyes away to keep herself from watching the blonde make that face and sound – she almost didn’t care about dinner anymore, she wanted to throw Clarke into her bed and make her moan for real.

They were silent for a few moments, both just eating the delicious meal in front of them. Finally, though, Lexa decided to ask the blonde about the following weekend. “So, I meant to ask… We decided that you and your friends and Anya and I could meet up for drinks on Friday night.”

“Yes,” Clarke replied, clearly still waiting for the question.

“The next night, on Saturday, is Anya’s sister’s engagement party. Would you be my date?” Lexa wondered softly. “I meant to ask you anyway, but Anya hasn’t let me forget to ask, because she would basically kill me if I showed up without you.”

The little laugh that came out of Clarke made Lexa smile, and she was pretty sure that Clarke was at least a little tipsy. “Of course, that sounds fun. I don’t know much about engagement parties, though.”

“As we’ve previously discussed, neither do I,” Lexa reminded her. “It’s fine, we just have to show up and congratulate Luna and Sam, eat the food they give us and drink some, it’ll be fun.”

“Man, I never think about all the stuff that happens before weddings in addition to the big day. That must be expensive as shit, to have that many parties?” Clarke commented, shaking her head and taking a long drink of her wine.

“Would you get married some day?” Lexa wondered.

“Definitely,” Clarke answered, giving Lexa a look that the brunette couldn’t fully decipher. “I’ve always wanted to get married – even after everything with my dad. I guess I just started thinking that maybe it wouldn’t happen, so I haven’t thought about it much in years. You?”

Lexa nodded. “I’ve always wanted the whole deal – marriage, a couple of kids, white picket fence even. I’m not always positive that I want  _ all _ that still, but marriage is definitely something I want. I think… you know, when you marry someone and you promise to be with them forever… it must be the best way to never feel alone.” Lexa wasn’t sure that her wording made perfect sense, but Clarke seemed to understand. Concern was suddenly etched into her expression, though, and Lexa braced herself for the response coming.

“Do you feel alone a lot?” Clarke asked gently.

Lexa took another bite of her food, very aware of how the blonde was not eating, instead just watching the brunette as she chewed and swallowed, before finally shrugging. “I’ve always kind of felt alone, you know? I’m used to it.  _ But _ , since I’ve been talking to you, I’ve felt a lot less alone. And I like it.”

A little smile appeared on the blonde’s perfect face, and it warmed Lexa’s heart. “Good.” They both went quiet as they finished their dinner, and then Lexa took and rinsed off both of the plates, slipping them into her dishwasher, which wasn’t full enough to start. They refilled their wine glasses, and Lexa looked to her girlfriend.

“Should we go see about testing out my bed?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Clarke replied, a grin spreading across her face. They picked up their wine glasses, and Clarke made a point to grab the bottle, which was less than half full now, and started for Lexa’s bed around the corner. Lexa led the way, and as she set her wine glass down on her nightstand, she turned around to see that Clarke had stopped by the windows, looking out over the nighttime skyline. “It’s beautiful.”

Lexa approached the blonde, carefully taking the bottle of wine out of her hand. “You’re beautiful.” She went back to her nightstand, setting down the bottle, but before she could turn around, Clarke appeared next to her, setting her own glass down. Then, in one swift motion, she had Lexa wrapped up in her arms and their lips connected forcefully. Lexa allowed herself to become lost in Clarke’s embrace, and after a few long moments, she let her girlfriend press her down into her own bed, atop the blankets.

They stretched across the bed, Clarke’s weight on Lexa as their lips remained locked. Suddenly, though, Clarke was sitting upright, her legs straddled over Lexa’s body. Her shirt was gone in a moment, followed by her bra, and by that point, Lexa was already doing her best to take her own off. Clarke happily helped her with that task, and once their upper bodies were bare, their lips rejoined hastily.

Lexa let out a soft groan as Clarke’s leg pressed itself in between her own. “Clarke,” she murmured into swollen lips. Clarke answered only by stroking her hand down Lexa’s torso and then bringing her lips to follow, pausing when she was level with Lexa’s breasts. Lexa bit down on her lower lip to keep from moaning as those determined lips circled her nipple. Clarke must’ve been able to tell that she was holding back the sound, though, because she abruptly pressed her thigh against Lexa’s center, easily eliciting a deep moan from Lexa now.

Clarke continued her trail down Lexa’s body, pausing to remove her pants and then to look up and meet Lexa’s gaze, waiting for permission that Lexa had already given her in her mind. She answered the silent question by lower her hands to Clarke’s hair and gently pushing her face closer to her center. Clarke instantly obliged, her lips landing where Lexa needed them, and the brunette began to lose control of her body.

Clarke’s tongue, she realized now more than any time before, could really unravel her. Perhaps it was that Clarke was getting to know Lexa’s body better and that was why, but no matter the reason, it felt like only a matter of minutes later that Lexa was basically ready to come. She tried to hold off her orgasm, her legs tightening around Clarke. She felt her girlfriend’s hands gripping her thighs, though, and that tongue delving deeper inside of her, and she lost all control. She cried out in pleasure, giving into it.

A moment later, Clarke was pressing soft little kisses all across Lexa’s abdomen, then her chest, then her neck, her chin, her cheeks, and her lips. “Damn,” Lexa breathed out, once Clarke was done showering her with kisses. “That’s one hell of a thank you in return for a compliment.”

“I want you to know,” Clarke whispered, “I’m falling for you so hard.”

Lexa wasn’t surprised by the admission, but her heart rate picked up incredibly at hearing it. “Me too,” she promised back. “I feel like I’ve been falling for you forever.” She pushed some hair out of Clarke’s face and brought her hand behind the blonde’s back, using it to help her suddenly flip them over. Clarke let out a gasp at the sudden shift, her pupils so blown as she made eye contact with Lexa again. “You’re… stunning.”

“ _ You _ are,” Clarke responded shyly.

Lexa chuckled, glancing around them at the made bed. “Let’s get in, it’s comfier that way. Oh – and we need to get your pants off, I think.”

“I think you’re right.” They managed to tug Clarke’s pants off, and then they drew back the covers on Lexa’s bed and crawled under them, where Lexa instantly brought their lips together. Her hand fell between them, sliding down toward Clarke’s center. She’d promised the blonde that she’d get some quality time in her bed, and she hadn’t been lying.

This Saturday, she realized, could’ve easily been the best day of her entire life thus far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In slightly better news than all of that stressful stuff I talked about in the above note, my girlfriend will be visiting me for 6 days in a week!!  
> I wanna thank you all so much for being patient with me and for sticking around and reading. I appreciate you all so so much.  
> To find out how to be more involved with my works, follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana and read my bio for other links!!  
> I'll see you all soon - hopefully next weekend!! <3 Have a lovely week!


	11. What I Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke has a very important conversation with Raven, and starts to make an effort to making a change in her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! I know, I've been super sketch on updating this story. And I know it's not Sunday, agh, I'm totally throwing y'all for a loop, huh?  
> Well, the only excuse I can really give about not updating is work, I've been working and trying to relax when I'm not working, and I kept being too unmotivated to write anymore of this story - and after my last lag in updating, I ended up having nothing written ahead of what you guys had read.  
> BUT NO MORE! I am now four-ish chapters ahead in this story, after going on a binge writing session for the last week and writing about 20,000 words. I'm still busy with work, and pretty soon I will be moving into my apartment back in Dallas, but for now, I'm managing to make the time to write. And I'm trying to see if I can finish this story before the end of August!  
> As for update days... I'm adjusting my schedule a little bit. Earlier this week on Twitter, I said Wednesdays were going to be update days, which is why this is posted today. However, starting next week, Thursday will be update day. That means that Sneak Peeks are posted on Mondays and Early Updates go up on Tuesdays: if you don't know how to get those, check out my Twitter @BrittzandTana ! Anyway, this change in schedule is mostly so that I have the weekends to finalize chapters and write before I post - plus I usually queue up my sneak peeks and early updates, and it's easier to do that on a weekend.  
> So that's that!  
> Thank you all for your patience, we will be having regular updates from now on!!
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** Clarke closed her door behind her as she entered her apartment, a happy sigh escaping her lips. She glanced around the space, realizing she hadn’t stepped foot in it since early the previous morning. She had, of course, spent the night at Lexa’s place, as well as most of the morning. But when it was nearing noon, Clarke knew that she needed to get back to her place – if for nothing more than to get a chance to call her best friends, who would undoubtedly want to hear about the previous day. And damn was there a lot to talk about.

Tossing her keys onto her table, Clarke made a beeline for her bedroom and collapsed onto the neatly made bed. Lexa’s was more comfortable, she noted immediately, for a moment getting lost in the memory of rolling around with her girlfriend just a few hours before.

She grabbed her phone and called Octavia, who answered in a matter of seconds. “Happy Sunday, C! How was yesterday? I swear, you dropped off the face of the planet, so it better have been good!”

“Let me add Rae to the call,” Clarke insisted, shaking her head with an amused smile across her lips. She hit a few buttons on her phone and a moment later, Raven was in the phone call as well.

“Hey bitches,” Raven greeted. She sounded much more like herself than she had over a lot of the past few weeks, and that brought a smile to Clarke’s face. “What’s up? We hanging out?”

“We can,” Clarke said, “but I was mostly calling to give you guys updates on the me and Lexa situation.”

“Ooh, updates! Give ‘em to us!”

“So, she met my mom yesterday, all that went fine, not that I thought it wouldn’t. We went back to her place and she made me dinner, and we made it official – we’re exclusive. Girlfriends. All that jazz.”

“Holy shit!” Octavia exclaimed. “Finally! Clarke Griffin is no longer flying solo!”

“That makes one of us,” Raven said jokingly, though Clarke could hear the slight pain in her voice. It hurt Clarke’s hear to hear her friend’s change in demeanor like that so suddenly.

“Yeah, it’s definitely nice,” she said hurriedly. “So let’s do something. Lunch?”

“Actually, just remembered that I have some shit to do. I’ve gotta go.”

“Wait, Raven –“ The sound of one call participant disconnecting interrupted the blonde, and she sighed.

“Too be fair, you kind of did the same thing to her recently,” Octavia said kind of sadly. “I think she’s just lonely. You know?”

“Yeah… are you free on Friday night?”

“Probably, yeah. Why?”

“We’re all gonna hang out and get drinks or something – with Lexa and her best friend, so you all can meet. Does that work for you?”

“Definitely. And I’m sure Raven will be up for it once she calms down. You know she’s happy for you.”

“Yeah. Alright, I’ll call you back later, O, I’ve got something I need to do.”

“Sounds good. I’m proud of you, C. For putting yourself out there and giving a relationship a chance.”

Clarke smiled. “Thanks, Octavia. Talk later.” She hung up the call, and was instantly headed out of her room. She grabbed her previously abandoned keys and left her apartment, locking up behind her.

In a matter of minutes, she was back in her car and starting toward Raven’s apartment. She needed to talk to her friend in person, because she definitely had been more focused on herself recently. It was good for her, of course, but Raven was going through a rough time, and she needed to be there for her friend.

Thankfully, because it was Sunday, traffic wasn’t too bad, and she was able to get to Raven’s apartment in good time. She was becoming increasingly aware of how badly she needed lunch, though, but she figured if she could make things right with Raven, the Latina would go get lunch with her.

Raven was definitely not expecting to open her door to see Clarke when she heard the knock on her door, the blonde could tell by the look of surprise on her face. “Oh, hey Clarke. What’s up?”

“You and I need to talk,” Clarke said softly. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” Raven stepped back and Clarke followed her into the apartment. “Sit down, you know I don’t talk standing up.” Clarke smiled softly, both of them sitting down on the couch. “So what’s up?”

“I’ve been a shitty friend,” Clarke stated. “I haven’t really been there for you in the right way since everything happened with Zara, because I’ve been starting this whole thing with Lexa, so I haven’t been able to spend time with you. And I feel so bad about it. I don’t want you to feel lonely, and I don’t want you to resent Lexa because I can’t spend time with you, especially when you haven’t even gotten to meet her yet.”

“I don’t resent her, and I’m not mad at you for getting with someone. I’m happy for you. I’m just… yeah, lonely I guess. I’m so used to having a person, and I guess you and Octavia are used to being each other’s stand in person lately, while I was dating and you guys weren’t. So maybe we’re all talking and hanging out as much as we used to, but it feels like less because usually I have someone else. But… I don’t, and it sucks.”

“I know, Rae,” Clarke said softly. “And I really want to be spending more time with you. Life is just… busy, and it’s sometimes hard to budget time between different people. Which is crazy. During college, I feel like I could go to class, do homework, work, and hang out with everyone all the time. But now it’s like, working takes up all my energy and on weekends I just… don’t have as much time.”

“I think part of that problem is that you spend your free time working, C. I know you care about that company like its your baby, and that’s awesome, because it’s a fucking great organization and it’s so lucky to have you spearheading lots of its events and stuff. But it can survive you not working overtime so much. And most of that time you spend working on weekends… you don’t even get overtime pay for it. Do you?”

Clarke shrugged. “Sometimes I log it, sometimes I forget.”

“You’ve gotta stop. You need to give more time to yourself. We all have the same amount of time in our lives, we have to  _ make _ our time count.”

“That’s deep.”

A small smile peeked on Raven’s lips. “I’ve spent a lot more time thinking lately.” Clarke took a deep breath, thinking about her friend’s words.

“Maybe you’re right. I work forty or more hours a week, I don’t need to spend time at night or on the weekends cramming in some extra hours. And to be honest… I could probably give some of that work to some of the interns we have. They need to learn how everything works.”

“And if you do that, it’s way more likely that you get one of those big promotions I used to hear you talk about. I feel like you’ve become too content in your job – yes it’s great, but you have so much room to grow still.”

Clarke nodded slowly. “Geez, I can’t believe how long its been since the two of us had any kind of heart to heart. I feel so bad that I haven’t made time for you, Raven.”

“It’s okay, dude,” Raven insisted. “I’m up for getting lunch now if you want. You can give me some intel on Lexa that Octavia doesn’t know so I can one up her.”

“Speaking of, are you down to go out and get drinks with Octavia, Lexa, Lexa’s best friend, and me on Friday night?”

“Hell yeah. I need to meet this girl – your  _ girlfriend _ . I can’t believe Abby met her before us. Damn.”

Clarke smiled. “Cool. Okay, let’s go get food. I barely ate anything for breakfast and I’m starving.”

“Because Lexa fucked you all morning?”

“Oh my god shut up.”

* * *

 

**Clarke – Raven and Octavia are down for Friday night drinks with you and Anya!**

**Lexa – Great! I’m so excited – and so is Anya.**

**Lexa – I’m also excited for Saturday, but update, I still don’t have an engagement gift for Luna and Sam ugh.**

**Lexa – Any chance you’ll be free sometime this week to go shopping with me? ;)**

**Clarke – Maybe Thursday after work? I’ll probably finish up around five.**

**Lexa – Thursday after five works for me! I’ll ask Anya for input on gifts and we’ll go… somewhere.**

**Clarke – It’s a date! Maybe we can complete it with dinner, too?**

**Lexa – You sure you’ll have time on Thursday to get dinner and shop??**

**Clarke – I’ll make time. You like sushi? I haven’t had sushi in a while and there’s a great place near my apartment.**

**Lexa – I do like sushi. Your place is kinda far from where we’ll probably be shopping though… maybe you can compensate me for going so far…?**

**Clarke – Oh yeah, what do you think you’ll require in compensation? Kiss insurance?**

**Lexa – I’m not sure that kiss insurance will be enough this time, unfortunately. However, I can think of quite a few things that would be enough – most of them would require that you let me come over after dinner, though…**

**Clarke – Wanna give me those specifics?**

**Lexa – Sure thing.**

**Lexa – Some of my ideas include: wine, my face between your legs, and you screaming out my name.**

**Clarke – That sounds more like you doing something for me, not the other way around.**

**Lexa – I mean, if you don’t want to…**

**Clarke – I think I can make it happen.**

**Lexa – Great!**

**Clarke – I told you that you like to sext.**

**Lexa – This is not sexting.**

**Clarke – Yes it is.**

**Lexa – Sexting is much different, babe. Sexting is like roleplaying. All I was doing was suggesting things that we do on Thursday after our dinner date.**

**Clarke – Whatever you say.**

**Lexa – What are you doing right now?**

**Clarke – Nothing, sitting on my bed, why?**

**Lexa – Take off your shirt.**

Clarke lifted her eyebrows, redness coming to her face. She probably wouldn’t have ever admitted to anyone that she so quickly obeyed Lexa’s texted –  _ sexted  _ – command. She quickly wiggled out of her shirt and slid under her blankets, avoiding the chill from her ceiling fan.

**Clarke – Done.**

**Clarke – What should I do now?**

**Lexa – Are you wearing a bra?**

**Clarke – Yeah.**

**Lexa – Take it off.**

**Clarke – Okay. Now what?**

**Lexa – Are your nipples hard?**

**Clarke – A little.**

**Lexa – If I were there, they’d be in between my lips and my fingers, but I’m not there, so you should do something about that.**

Clarke bit down on her bottom lip, her right hand rising up to her breasts and massaging one of them firmly, playing around with her nipple. She kept her left hand available for texting, but she knew she’d have to hand her phone over to her right hand if this was going to move any more forward.

**Clarke – Doing something about it right now.**

**Lexa – So now how about you get rid of your pants – and your underwear while you’re at it. No use for those.**

Clarke slid out of her pants easily, get rid of her underwear simultaneously. She then passed her phone from one hand to another, her left hand pinching her left nipple as she slowly managed to text the brunette back.

**Clarke – They’re gone.**

**Lexa – Good. Are you wet yet?**

**Clarke – Maybe.**

**Lexa – Gotta be a clear yes or no, baby, I can’t feel you.**

**Clarke – Ok fine, yes, I’m wet from texting you.**

**Lexa – Sexting, beautiful, you really need to learn the difference ;) And I guess you better start touching yourself… actually, on second thought…**

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows at that, and she was about to type out a question in response when her phone started ringing with a call from her girlfriend. She bit down on her lip, answering the call. “You liar, you totally like sexting,” Clarke stated immediately.

“You know what I like more than sexting?” Lexa asked in a low voice. “Phone sex. Ever tried it?”

“It doesn’t involve sticking my phone up my vagina, does it?”

“Hah, you’re funny babe.”

“I’m just saying. That sounds unpleasant.”

“You sound way less aroused than I was hoping,” Lexa huffed out, and Clarke laughed, a smile glued to her face. She’d seen Lexa just that morning, but she was wishing so badly that the brunette could be here with her right now.

“I think there’s an easy to fix to that, though,” Clarke murmured, resting her left hand over her lower stomach. “You wanna introduce me to this phone sex stuff, or what?”

“Mm, that’s a good idea,” Lexa agreed. “You’re naked now, right?”

“Very naked.”

“Good… feel yourself, tell me what you feel like…”

Clarke obeyed the instruction, her hand sliding lower and touching herself gently. She felt her own wetness between her fingers and she released a sigh. “I’m wet… what should I do about that?”

“Tease yourself,” Lexa said lowly, “around your clit, a little bit of friction…”

Clarke did as she was told again, teasing her clit and frustrating her body further. Her nipples hardened again, and she groaned, the phone falling away for a moment while her hand practically involuntarily grabbed at her breast. She barely heard Lexa’s next words.

“Oh my god, your moan is so hot.”

Clarke hadn’t even realized that she’d moaned. She quickly moved her right hand back to her phone to hit the speaker button, and then she grabbed onto her breasts. “Sorry, I had to put you on speaker.”

“Oh no, don’t apologize.”

“Ugh, Lexa, I need to come,” Clarke groaned, her fingers itching to pleasure herself completely.

“Well I’m not stopping you. Go ahead,” Lexa encouraged, and Clarke finally began to massage her clit while she ventured her fingers toward her core. She continued to massage her nipples, and she heard herself gasping and moaning. She  _ thought _ she heard Lexa moaning as well, but she didn’t know for sure.

It didn’t take her very long to orgasm – she was already pretty good at taking care of herself, and Lexa’s phone foreplay made it even easier. As soon as she was spent, sweat covering her body, she slipped out from under her blankets to let the air from the fan cool her down. “Damn,” Clarke sighed out, grabbing her phone with her right hand and taking it off of speaker. She left her left hand between her legs for now.

” _ God _ , I wish I was there with you right now,” Lexa groaned. “I’m soaked.”

“We’re week. We were in bed together like twelve hours ago.”

“Twelve hours too long ago.”

Clarke laughed. “Well, I think we better suck it up. Your travel compensation doesn’t happen until Thursday.”

“ _ So long _ from now. I think I’m going to start hating the work week.”

“Maybe we can find room for a lunch before then, like Tuesday?”

“Yeah, I can take an hour lunch break Tuesday so you don’t have to come all the way into downtown.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Tuesday is actually my lightest work day of the week. Since Monday is always post weekend craziness, Wednesday is always paperwork day, and Thursday and Friday are the days we do meetings with all the writers. So Tuesdays are for the in between work. Plus, I usually work overtime, and I’m salary, so taking a longer lunch break isn’t a problem.”

“Well then, that works for me. Probably no time for sex during that lunch break, but we can do, you know, lunch.”

Lexa’s bright laugh on the other side of the call made Clarke smile. “I’d love to lunch with you on Tuesday.”

Clarke sighed happily. “I get so excited every time I get to see you.”

“The feeling is mutual, babe. I think I need to sleep pretty soon though.”

“Okay. Yes, sleep. I should too probably. Goodnight, Lexa. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

“Goodnight, text me tomorrow!”

“I will.”

* * *

Clarke glanced at the two interns in front of her – West and Hanna. They were both hard workers, and they’d been working under her for a couple of months now. Both of them were nearing the end of their college careers. West was a sociology major, like Clarke had been, and Hanna was in pre-law. They were, of course, young, but they clearly had bright futures, and they both loved the nonprofit they were a part of.  _ And _ their internship was a paid one, which Clarke knew they must love about it.

But the two of them were about to be working a lot harder than they had before, because Clarke was ready to teach them to do some of her work. Her supervisor had been ecstatic to hear Clarke’s proposal that she do so, because it meant that they were more likely to stick around as part of the company once they graduated college, and because it meant possibly more expansion of the organization’s event hosting capability.

Plus, Clarke’s supervisor had been impressed at the blonde for being willing to share her responsibility – she said it showed how much she’d grown in her position, so much so that she felt like delegation was necessary to continue everything she’d built.

“Alright, you guys both feel up to this, right? It’s going to be a bit more work, and as you know, because you’re interns, there’s no raise associated with it.”

“I’m very excited,” West answered quickly, and Hanna nodded.

“Me too.”

“Okay, cool. One thing you guys may not know about my job is that to keep up with it as much as I do, I work a lot more than I should. I work most weeks, and usually I stay late at the office, or I do some extra work before I go to bed at night. But what that actually means is that I’m working too much – there’s too much to be done for just me to do it. So I’m going to be teaching you both some of my responsibilities, so that you guys can start to understand more of the planning side of all the events we host and are a part of. Sound good?”

She got positive responses from the two interns, and a smile spread across her face. This was exciting, and it felt like a big step for her.

“Great. Let’s get started…”

* * *

If Clarke hadn’t seen Lexa on Tuesday, by the time Thursday rolled around, she would’ve been distraught. But since she had gotten that lunch with Lexa, she managed to control herself on Thursday when she met Lexa at FIGat7th. It wasn’t a place that she frequented, but there were a lot of places to shop there, and they both hoped that on a Thursday evening, it wouldn’t be quite as busy as the weekends.

It was pretty busy, unfortunately, but they managed to do some successful shopping. That was also because Lexa had gotten input from Anya on what to buy, so they only went to a few places before she found what she believed to be an appropriate gift. Clarke didn’t really help much, but she was so glad to be there, because it was kind of the first time they’d walked around together in public, holding each other’s hands. It felt domestic, and Clarke just loved that feeling. Lexa barely let go of her hand at all during the whole shopping trip.

Plus, they talked the whole time too, learning little things about each other and sharing stories. Clarke talked about her first time visiting the shopping center with her mom when she was a preteen, and that kind of triggered a back and forth of childhood stories. Lexa’s were a lot different most of the time, but she talked a lot about New York, and when the brunette found out that Clarke had never been, she became very insistent that they had to visit sometime. Even though it wasn’t officially planning a trip for them both, Clarke still got excited at the prospect of doing just that.

After their shopping trip, they hopped in their separate cars and drove to Los Feliz, specifically to Clarke’s favorite sushi place in the area. Over a very nice meal, they continued to talk and share stories, and Clarke told her girlfriend all of the details of her meeting Octavia and Raven for the first time. In turn, Lexa told Clarke about meeting Anya, and how initially, they’d kind of hated each other. According to Lexa, their personalities were just very fiery and they clashed for a while before they managed to fit together nicely. Somehow, that made sense to Clarke.

Hearing Lexa talk about her best friend made Clarke even more excited to  _ officially _ meet Anya, when the other blonde would not be flirting with her in a joking competition with Lexa.

Clarke paid for their sushi date, and Lexa didn’t argue. And Clarke liked that, because the brunette had paid for most of their dates up to that point, and she wanted to do something nice in return, and Lexa hadn’t fought her on it at all. In fact, she hadn’t mentioned it – Clarke had grabbed the bill and slipped her card in pretty quickly, and Lexa had rolled with it.

Clarke supposed that she reason she was so happy about that was because she knew that Lexa could easily afford a dinner for the two of them – at least she was pretty sure she could. But of course, Lexa having more money than her didn’t mean that she should pay for everything, and she knew that, and clearly Lexa knew that. And also, the more Clarke thought about it, the more she realized that she didn’t really know Lexa’s whole financial situation. Sure, she knew that she had a steady job and that she had a nice place, but that didn’t mean she knew how much spending money Lexa had.

Later that night, Clarke would think about all that again and realize that even more so than she already had, she needed to stop thinking about Lexa’s money. It didn’t make any difference in their relationship, so she didn’t need to think about it unless prompted to by Lexa for some reason.

After their dinner, they each drove back to Clarke’s place and quickly fell into her bed together – after stumbling through the living room with their lips attached for a couple of heated minutes. They forgot the wine that Lexa had suggested, but the brunette’s head did end up between Clarke’s legs, and Clarke definitely shouted out Lexa’s name a number of times.

Clarke didn’t get the chance to return the favor, though, because they had a couple of rounds before Clarke passed out briefly. She woke up around midnight to Lexa peppering her face with soft kisses. “What?” Clarke murmured, her arms wrapping around the beautiful girl in bed with her.

“I need to go home, babe,” Lexa answered sadly. “Or else tomorrow morning is going to be way too hard. We both have to work, and I’m pretty far from the office, and it’ll be basically impossible for me to tear myself away from you quickly tomorrow morning.”

“Okay,” Clarke responded sleepily. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, though. Because drinks with everyone.”

“Yes, of course,” Lexa agreed. She smiled sweetly, pressing a soft kiss to Clarke’s lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well.”

“Mm you too.”

Clarke would’ve gotten out of bed to walk Lexa out, but she fell asleep almost immediately after Lexa climbed out of bed.

She did wake up Friday morning wishing that she had her beautiful girlfriend next to her in bed, but she knew that Lexa was right. It would’ve been too hard for them to get to work on time like that.

And that thought made her stomach hurt, because the thought of only spending full nights with Lexa on weekends was not appealing. The more time she spent with her girlfriend, the more she wished they could see each other all of the time.

But she figured if they had earlier nights at each other’s apartments, it would be easier for them to be up in the morning.

She decided to talk about it with Lexa this weekend, because it was important to her, and she knew that it would be important to Lexa too. But for now, she dragged herself out of bed, got ready for work, and left for the office. Today was her last day teaching the interns directly – the next week, they would start actually doing some of the jobs that Clarke usually did, and the blonde was very excited to see how they would do with it all.

And she would not be working that weekend, she already knew. Because she would be spending Friday with Lexa and her friends, Saturday was Luna’s engagement party, and Sunday… well, she wanted to spend Sunday with either Lexa or her friends or both, and so she would.

Her time was precious, and the people who were important to her deserved a good chunk of it.

That, she was learning more and more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got some fun chapters coming up! There will be a time skip coming up in the story as well, not a huge one but it'll be a thing. So I'm at 60,000ish words right now in writing this story... I've got kinda 1.5 major plot points that I plan on implementing, plus if you combine that with the fun and fluff I wanna write too, I'm hoping to hit around 80,000 words for this story. So looking at around 20 chapters!  
> Thank you guys for sticking with this story! I really like the direction it takes and I'm excited to finish it out!  
> Love you all, have a great week!! xx


	12. The Highest Highs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Octavia and Raven finally meet Lexa and Anya, and Clarke gets an actual, proper meeting with Anya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey lovelies! Sorry this chapter is a few hours late, I meant to post it like, midday Thursday but I forgot and I had to work from 5pm to 12:30am lol. But speaking of that - it was my last day at my summer job! Woo! I'm trying to get a job on campus for this semester, but we'll see. I move into my new apartment on Wednesday! I'm so excited. ALSO, Saturday is Austin Pride!! So I'll be there! Be sure to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana where I'll definitely be posting some pictures!!
> 
> Anyway! Here's the update lovelies!

******Anya – So where are we meeting?**

**Lexa – It’s a club near West Hollywood, I’ll send you the address, hold on.**

Lexa quickly copied the address that Clarke had sent her earlier and sent it to her best friend. She was currently still in the office – it was nearing five-thirty, but she couldn’t leave yet. One of the writers had been writing late with his article for the week, and Jenna was insisting that he get it done by the end of the workday. That meant that she and Lexa had to wait until he was done with it so that they could do a quick review of it and approve it. Actually, it was really important that Lexa be there for it, because Jenna had mentioned in a meeting the previous day that Lexa might be approving a lot more of the content without Jenna’s help.

Jenna hadn’t really mentioned why, but Lexa wasn’t complaining. It meant that Jenna trusted her more, and it definitely set Lexa up as a more powerful member of the magazine. But right now it was being an inconvenience. Thankfully, it was Friday, so it didn’t matter if she was out late that night – and the same went for Clarke and their friends. But they’d been planning on meeting at the club at six, and it was looking like she would be late.

**Lexa – I’ll be late.**

**Anya – What?? You mean I’ve gotta meet your girlfriend officially and her friends without you there? Lame.**

**Lexa – I know, I’m sorry. Important meeting that’s supposed to be happening soon. Ugh. Trust me, I’d leave if I could.**

She felt bad about it, that was for sure, and she’d been hoping that it would happen sooner so that she could brush it off an not have to explain being late. But now that it was seeming like she might not get to the club until six-thirty, she decided that she should text Clarke.

**Lexa – Looks like I’m going to be late. I’m super sorry. I totally told you I’d be free by six and I completely thought I would be. There’s an important meeting that got pushed because this one writer didn’t finish his article by the deadline, but Jenna and I have to approve it before it goes to printing this weekend.**

**Lexa – I’ll get there as fast as I can.**

There was no response, which told Lexa that Clarke was probably driving.

Thankfully, though, only a minute after she sent the message, Jenna opened the door to Lexa’s office. “Justin’s finally finished, come on, this should be quick. He’s a good writer, I think he just hit a stump this week.”

Lexa nodded, hopping up and following her boss into their meeting room. Justin was already there with his laptop out and ready for his article to be reviewed. He also had two printed copies, which he hastily handed over to Lexa and Jenna, who both began reading. Lexa, who was still not fully in control of the process, made some mental notes, but she didn’t say anything about the article until she’d heard Jenna’s notes. Hers had been mostly on the same page, but she said a few things after Jenna had finished, and they made a couple of edits to the draft. Then they finalized it, had Justin send it to printing, and the workday was over.

It was five-fifty by the time that finished, and Lexa grabbed her stuff as fast as she could and hurried out of the office and to her car. She’d driven it to work instead of walking that morning, because she’d had a feeling that she might not get out of the office before five-thirty.

Even though she was in a rush, she drove as safely as possible on her way to West Hollywood. She knew that she would have to make up being late to her girlfriend later – even if Clarke wasn’t mad about it, Lexa felt really bad about it. Especially because she knew that Anya could be a lot, and it felt weird that Anya would be meeting Octavia and Raven before Lexa had.

She made it to the club a little before six-thirty, and as she found a place to park her car, she checked her phone messages.

**Anya – Gotcha, well I’m on my way there now. See you there.**

**Clarke – Don’t worry about it, it’s not the end of the world. Raven got caught up too, she’s gonna probably be later than you. But hers isn’t work related, apparently it’s a Zara thing, haven’t gotten all the details yet, but she’ll be here around seven.**

Caught up on her messages, Lexa pocketed her phone and hurried into the club.

Even though it wasn’t super late yet, the club was already pretty alive, and it was a Friday night, so it made sense. The dance floor was already getting full, and the lights were bright, and the bar was busy with patrons. Three of those patrons were the three people Lexa was looking for, and it only took her a few moments of walking through the club near the bar to spot them. There was Clarke, leaning against the bar and facing Anya, who was talking animatedly about something. The third woman, presumably Octavia, was standing slightly in between the two of them. The three of them seemed to be in a deep conversation, because none of them noticed Lexa approaching them.

Lexa took advantage of her sneak attack, coming up somewhat behind Clarke and gently grabbing her waist. The blonde jumped a little bit, and conversation halted as everyone realized that Lexa was here. “Hey,” Lexa greeted, her voice already sounding apologetic.

“Hey!” Clarke exclaimed, brightening up and turning to face her girlfriend. She leaned forward to steal a quick kiss, and Lexa felt herself relaxing as she relinquished it. “I’m glad you made it out of work! How was your meeting?”

“Quick and easy once it finally started,” Lexa answered with a chuckle. Her gaze jumped to Octavia, who was clearly sizing her up. “Hey, Octavia, right?”

“Right,” Octavia answered. “It’s great to finally meet you, I’ve heard  _ lots  _ of things, and before you ask, yes they were all good things.”

Lexa laughed, her arms wrapping around her girlfriend, who was now facing back toward their friends. “Good to hear. I’ve heard lots of good things about you too.” She looked to Anya. “And I see you’ve both already met Anya – that’s what I get for being late.”

“Yep,” Anya said with a nod, “we’ve been bonding here without you. I was very happy to hear that both of Clarke’s best friends are queer – you can’t go wrong with lots of queer friends.”

Octavia laughed. “Yeah, I was talking about Raven being bi and me being pan, and how Clarke always thought that Raven and I would end up together. No way it could happen, though. I think of Raven as basically my sister.”

“You call her ‘babes,’” Clarke deadpanned.

“Yeah, and if I had a sister, I’d call her babes.”

“You don’t call me babes.”

“Yeah well, you’re more than my sister. You’re like my twin.”

“That makes  _ no _ sense.”

Lexa heard herself laughing at the back and forth between her girlfriend and Octavia. “The closest thing that Anya and I have to nicknames for each other is like…  _ bitch _ .”

Anya narrowed her eyes. “Uh no. I rarely call you a bitch.”

“Whatever you say,” Lexa answered with a quirk of her eyebrow. “And I said the closest thing. We used to call each other  _ bitch _ all the time in college.”

“Yeah well, that was college. Plus, if I call you a bitch, it’s probably because you  _ are _ one.”

“I’m  _ not _ , but fine, continue to spread lies about me.”

“Bitch.” Anya smirked as the word elicited a laugh from Lexa.

“You and Raven will get along well,” Clarke said with a chuckle. “She uses ‘what’s up, bitches’ as her normal greeting for me and Octavia.”

“This is true,” Octavia agreed with a nod. “Hopefully she’s in a good mood when she gets here.”

“Oh yeah, what happened with her and her ex today?” Lexa asked. “Did you get more details?”

Octavia nodded. “Yeah, I guess Zara dropped by her work today because she’d been trying to call Raven but she wasn’t answering – speaking of, I’m proud of our Rae-Rae for that. Anyway, Raven asked her what she wanted and Zara basically re-explained to her the reasons they broke up, and then asked Raven if she thought  _ Raven _ could fix those things, and if so, said she’d give her another chance.”

“Wait, what?” Anya asked. “That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, Raven basically said  _ fuck you _ in response,” Octavia continued, “—again, I’m proud of her. But it took up some of her time after she got off, and she decided to run back to her place and shower before she showed up to cleanse herself of asshole-ness that Zara probably spread on her.”

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows. “So basically, her ex wanted her back, so she asked Raven to fix all of their relationship problems so they could get back together?”

Octavia nodded, and Clarke huffed. “I swear to god, if I ever see Zara’s face again, someone might have to keep me from punching her.”

“I’d let you punch her,” Anya stated flatly. “That’s just an asshole thing to do.”

“Probably same,” Octavia agreed. “In fact, if we ran into her and you didn’t punch her, I probably would.”

“Alright, Lexa, so you’d be in charge of not letting me punch Zara. I don’t want to be sued for assault.”

Lexa chuckled softly. “Got it, babe.”

“Hey bitches!” a voice suddenly called, drawing all of their attention to where a Latina – definitely Raven – was approaching them. “Sorry I’m late. Was just freshening up and shit.”

“Hey Rae!” Octavia greeted brightly. “Don’t worry about being late, it’s not like we’re on a time crunch tonight. It’s Friday, and I’m ready to get fucked – I used an Uber to get here.”

“I’m with you, dude,” Raven agreed, before her gaze was shifting to Lexa. “You must be Lexa!”

“That’s me,” Lexa confirmed, releasing her hold on Clarke now. “It’s great to meet you. I’ve heard great things.”

“Ditto,” Raven replied. She glanced to Anya, whose gaze, Lexa noticed immediately, were already glued to the Latina. “And you’re Anya, right?”

“Mmhmm.” That was maybe the first time Anya hadn’t spewed some string of words in response to any kind of greeting in her life, at least for as long as Lexa had known her. And she knew that Clarke was right, Anya and Raven were going to get along  _ real _ well. At least, if Raven ended up picking up on how attracted to her Anya was, and reciprocated those feelings. Because Lexa recognized Anya’s “target acquired” look, and she had just locked on to Raven.

“Have all of you started drinking already?”

“The three of us have just had one beer each – Lexa hasn’t had anything,” Clarke answered.

Raven grinned. “Great, anyone feel like a shot then? On me, because I need a fucking pick me up!”

“I’m down for a shot,” Anya stated, standing up a little straighter. “I’m not driving either.”

Lexa looked to her girlfriend. “Did you drive?”

“No, I went home and took a Lyft,” Clarke answered. “You drove, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ll just have a beer and I’ll be your sober driver,” Lexa decided, smiling sweetly.

“Aw, are you sure?”

Lexa nodded. “I don’t want to have to leave my car here, since its not really in a convenient place for me to pick it up tomorrow.”

“Alright… if you’re sure.”

“I am,” Lexa insisted, pressing a quick kiss to Clarke’s cheek. “Get a shot if you want, I’ll just get a beer.”

They hailed the bartender and Raven ordered a round of four shots, and Lexa ordered her beer. They all cheered to new friends before taking back their drinks, and Lexa thought that Clarke’s post-shot face was adorable and hilarious, her nose all scrunched up as she shook her head a little. “Oh god, I hate tequila,” the blonde muttered.

“I fucking love tequila,” Anya countered.

“Me too,” Raven agreed.

“Me three, but I’m a margarita kinda girl, so that’s my favorite way to have tequila,” Octavia said. “Oh but, fuck, coconut tequila is where it’s at.”

“I didn’t know there was coconut tequila,” Lexa commented curiously.

Anya snickered. “Lexa doesn’t know much about alcohol, to be honest. Meanwhile, I work at a bar, so I know everything. I order most of her drinks when we go out.”

Lexa shook her head. “No, you  _ used _ to order most of my drinks when we went out. Not anymore.”

“Yeah, now you just barely drink anything when we go out,” Anya complained, nodding to Lexa’s beer.

“Hey, she’s being my sober driver,” Clarke defended playfully, pouting at Anya for teasing Lexa. Anya shook her head.

“Sorry, blondie, but your pouty face can’t work on me. I’m not Lexa.”

“Hm, but if I remember correctly, you hit on me  _ before _ Lexa did…”

“Wait, what?” Octavia asked, surprised.

Anya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but it was for shits and giggles.  _ Obviously _ , it’s not like I’m actually into you, especially not now.”

“She knows that,” Lexa said with a light chuckle, Anya flashing her a glare.

“Wait, I’m confused,” Octavia whined.

Clarke looked at her best friend. “I told you about that, O. The pickup line stuff.”

“ _ Oh _ , yeah, I guess you did.”

Raven looked pointedly at Octavia. “Yeah, O, even I remember.” She made eye contact with Anya as she continued, “I’ve gotta say, though, I’m not sure pickup lines are the best way to pick up women.”

“That’s what  _ I’ve _ been telling her for  _ years _ ,” Lexa exclaimed in agreement, and Clarke laughed at the sudden outburst.

Anya narrowed her eyes. “Maybe not when you’re  _ you _ , Lexa. But for me, pick up lines almost always work. Just because it didn’t work on Clarke doesn’t mean it doesn’t work on everyone.”

“Alright, hit me with your best pickup line then,” Raven instructed, drawing Anya’s gaze.

It was silent between the five of them for a moment, and Lexa could practically hear Anya going through all of her pickup lines to select one to give to Raven. And she of course knew that Anya was taking this very seriously. Finally, though, Anya stood up a little straighter and gave Raven a small smile. “You know, I was going to try and use a pickup line on you, but you’re just so beautiful that I completely forgot what I was going to say.”

Lexa bit back a grin, because she’d actually never heard Anya use that one before, and also because Raven looked a little surprised at it. Octavia smirked, but Lexa noticed her quickly cover it up by taking a sip of her beer. Lexa leaned closer to Clarke and whispered in her ear, “You think they’ll fuck?”

“Oh definitely,” Clarke answered with a quiet laugh.

“Alright, fine, I can see how that one might work. But it’s  _ kind of _ an anti-pickup line, so I don’t know if it counts.”

“Whatever you say,” Anya said with a wink. “How about you just admit that pickup lines can be successful, and I’ll buy you a drink to make up for you having to cede.”

“Fine. Whiskey on the rocks.”

“You’re a whiskey girl?”

“I’m a most alcohol girl.”

“Cool. I like a girl who likes alcohol.” Anya smirked, turning to face the bar and wave down the bartender again. Raven suddenly turned to face Clarke and her jaw dropped. She then looked to Lexa.

“She’s single right?” Raven asked in a quiet voice as Anya ordered a whiskey on the rocks.

“If she wasn’t single, do you think she’d be flirting with you so blatantly, Rae?” Clarke asked back, also in a hushed voice. Lexa laughed.

“She’s single.”

Anya turned to face Raven as soon a she had the drink, handing it to the Latina. “You should come by my bar some time. I’ll make you something  _ good _ .”

“You’ll have to text me a when and where, and then I’ll have to figure out if I can make time,” Raven replied casually.

“I don’t have your number,” Anya stated.

Raven took the drink from the blonde, taking a short sip from it. “We should fix that then, huh?”

“Oh my god,” Octavia muttered, turning away from Anya and Raven to fully face Clarke and Lexa. “They’re worse than the actual couple here.”

Lexa laughed. “Well,  _ I’m _ trying to make a good impression.”

“As if you need to, Clarke never stops talking about you, I already know you’re like, perfect,” Octavia insisted, waving her hand. Lexa flushed as Clarke grinned at her. “Come on, C, let’s get another shot in and we’ll all go dance. And I won’t even make you dance with me, I’ll let you guys dirty dance all over each other and I’ll find someone to do the same with.”

“Oh my god, O.”

* * *

“It was really great to meet you guys,” Lexa said to Octavia and Raven, both of whom were pretty much drunk at this point. Anya was significantly less drunk than Lexa expected her to be, but she knew that was because as soon as she’d seen Raven, she’d decided to focus more on impressing her than getting wasted. “I can’t wait for us to all hang out again.

“Yeah, you too,” Octavia answered happily. “I really like you, Lexa, Clarke found a good one, I can tell.”

“I did,” Clarke agreed, giggling. She was definitely pretty tipsy by now, too. Lexa had stuck to her word about her beer, and after that first one, she’d been drinking coke. She was not about to get behind the wheel while intoxicated.

Lexa smiled at Octavia. “Thanks.”

“Which way are you headed, Raven?” Anya asked the Latina. “Maybe we can split an Uber if we’re going the same way.”

“Yeah sure,” Raven agreed, and it was easy to notice that Raven had not answered the first question. “You wanna call it?”

“Sure,” Anya agreed, opening up her phone quickly. Octavia was also on her phone getting an Uber. They were standing outside the club, and Lexa had her arms around Clarke’s waist. It was around ten-thirty, so they’d been hanging out for quite a while. But they’d all had pretty long days at work, and even though it was Friday night, they were all pretty tired.

As soon as the two Ubers were on their way, Lexa and Clarke decided that they’d head out. “Thanks for hanging out you guys. It was so nice to officially meet you, Anya.”

“You too, Clarke,” Anya agreed with a nod of approval.

“See you tomorrow, An,” Lexa said. “Bye Octavia, bye Raven.”

“Bye guys!”

Lexa and Clarke were off toward the brunette’s car, their hands intertwining as soon as Lexa broke her hold around Clarke’s waist. “This was so much fun,” Lexa said to her girlfriend. “I’m so glad we finally got to meet each other’s friends.”

“Me too,” Clarke agreed with a soft smile. “Anya’s a lot of fun, and I can tell she really cares about you.”

“Yeah. Same about your friends, especially Octavia. It’s easy to see how close you two are.”

Clarke smiled. “It’s like she said, we’re basically twins.”

“I thought you said that didn’t make any sense.” Lexa smirked at her tipsy girlfriend, who just shook her head.

“I dunno. So do you think Anya and Raven are gonna hook up tonight?”

“Probably. Raven lives pretty close to here, right? Anya lives a little north of downtown, so there’s no way they’re headed in the same direction,” Lexa insisted. “Does that bother you?”

“No way. Raven needs to sleep with someone new – honestly, I think she’s ready for a new relationship. She’s definitely over Zara, today was proof of that, because when she’s not over someone, she’s the kind of person who looks for a way to stay. So if she didn’t take Zara’s offer of getting back together, then she’s over her. And Raven functions better when she has a person. And I don’t know if Anya’s looking for something serious, but even if not, they seem to like each other.”

Lexa nodded. “Anya’s always looking. She keeps things casual if they seem better that way, but she can commit. What’s interesting is that she told me that by the time the engagement party rolled around, she’d have a date. But I haven’t heard about anyone yet.”

Clarke looked at the brunette curiously. “Maybe she’ll just go stag.”

“I don’t think so. But maybe. Anya’s trying to one up Sam’s sister, who’s already married. I wouldn’t be too surprised if forced one of her work friends to go with her or something.”

Clarke laughed at that, shaking her head. “Well, I really think she and Raven hit it off.”

“Kinda like how we did.”

“Yes,” Clarke agreed. They’d reached Lexa’s car by this point, and they climbed in. “Can we go to your place? I miss your comfy bed.”

Lexa smiled to herself. “Yes, we can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading!! I'm sorry I haven't replied to many comments lately - I'm going to reply to some right now after posting this, and then I'll do my best to reply to all of the comments posted on this chapter before I update again haha.  
> Totally random: I don't watch Riverdale but I watched all of the Choni scenes and deleted scenes this week and I've been stuck reading a bunch of Choni fanfic because holy shit I love them so much. Is the show good enough that it's worth watching it for the full context on everything? Also can I watch the second season of Riverdale without the first? Or should I just go full binge mode and watch all of it? LOL  
> I hope you all have a lovely Friday and weekend!! I appreciate you all so much! xx


	13. Anything Could Happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa go to Luna and Sam's engagement party - and it's interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey lovelies! It's update day!  
> I've been kind of wrapped up in a vortex that consists of mostly two things: moving into my new apartment, and Choni from Riverdale. Fuck I'm obsessed with them. I watched all of Riverdale starting after I updated this last week (in the AM of Friday) and finishing yesterday morning lol. During that time I also have read probably upwards of 150k words of Choni fanfic. Plus, yeah, packed up my whole room, moved into my new apartment. This weekend I also went to Austin Pride (it was amazing) and took a road trip to see one of my sister's for her son's birthday. Plus hanging out with friends, grocery shopping... shit guys it's been a whirlwind, that's for sure.
> 
> Anyway! Update time! Enjoy lovelies!

Clarke woke up wrapped up in her girlfriend’s blankets – she could tell because of both their feel and their smell. Plus, she remembered curling up in them the previous night while she was tipsy. She’d wiggled out of her pants, took her bra off under her shirt, and passed out. She wasn’t sure when Lexa had joined in her bed.

Rolling over, she collided into her girlfriend’s sleeping form, eliciting a grunt from the girl. “Sorry,” Clarke murmured, her arms wrapping around the brunette as her eyes stayed sealed. She quickly realized that Lexa was naked, and she was surprised for a moment until she remembered that Lexa always slept naked. Her hands rested themselves on Lexa’s bare stomach.

“Mm,” Lexa mumbled. “Morning. What’s the time?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

Lexa sighed, her hands resting on top of Clarke’s. “I’m supposed to get lunch with Anya, remember? I told you about it on Thursday. She needs time to freak out before the engagement party since she’s hosting half of it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Clarke muttered. “What time do you have to be at lunch?”

“She’s coming here, babe,” Lexa answered, suddenly pulling herself out of Clarke’s grasp. “You can stay, but we should probably be like, up and clothed.”

“Lame.” Clarke finally peeled her eyes open to see Lexa naked form standing next to the bed, stretching her arms up over her head. Her mouth went dry. “How long till she’s here?”

Lexa must’ve noticed the drop in Clarke’s voice, because she gave the blonde an interested look as she grabbed her phone to check the time. “Oh good, it’s still kind of early. She’ll be here at noon – it’s ten.”

“We have plenty of time then,” Clarke insisted.

“Well, depends. Do you need to shower? I can shower pretty fast but if we both have to shower and get ready, that could take a while.”

“Ooh, are you opposed to showering together? Because I’m pretty sure that kills two birds with one stone. _Oh_ , maybe three birds.”

“Three birds?” Lexa asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Clarke smiled, pushing the blankets off of herself and climbing out of the bed. She started toward Lexa’s bathroom, feeling green eyes following her movements. She pulled her shirt up and over her head, and then wiggled her panties off more suggestively than necessary. “Just let me pee first, then we can shower.”

She closed the door behind her, locking it before sitting on the toilet and relieving herself. As soon as she was done, she washed her hands, turned on the shower, and unlocked the door. She stepped under the stream of warm water, which fell from a fancy rainfall showerhead, waiting for her girlfriend.

The shower was adjacent to the giant jacuzzi tub that Clarke knew they would put to good use at some point. But the shower itself was one of the nice glass ones, and it was pretty spacious. So she saw Lexa when she opened the door, although due to the way of the glass, she was slightly distorted.

Lexa opened the door to the shower and stepped into the space. “You woke up very fast, huh?”

“It’s your fault,” Clarke stated, “I would’ve been content with laying in bed for another hour, but you had to stand up and look all gorgeous and naked.”

“Oh of course, my bad.” Lexa’s hands fell to Clarke’s waist, pulling them closer together. “I’ve gotta say, though, I really like waking up with you in my bed next to me.”

“That makes two of us,” Clarke murmured in reply.

“Would’ve been better if you were also naked.”

“I’m naked now, aren’t I?”

“You definitely are. And I haven’t had you naked and all to myself since Thursday.”

“Hey, hey, don’t think that you get to be in control right now,” Clarke tutted, taking a step forward and pressing her to the shower wall. Lexa’s sharp intake of breath told the blonde that it must be cold, but she herself was standing under the water still, and it was nice and warm. “Need to warm up?”

“Who said you get to be in charge, huh?”

“Me,” Clarke stated, “because you got to be in control on Thursday, and I didn’t get a chance to make _you_ scream.” Lexa didn’t argue, instead her hands rose up to Clarke’s face and brought their lips together aggressively. Clarke kissed her firmly, keeping her pinned to the wall. She pressed her thigh in between Lexa’s, and the brunette spread her legs just enough to allow her to do so. Once it was clear that Lexa was beyond worked up, Clarke pulled her lips away from her girlfriend’s. She glanced down to Lexa’s core. “May I?”

“Please,” Lexa answered breathily.

Clarke knelt down in front of the brunette, her hands wrapping around her thighs and holding them apart. She placed hot kisses on the inside of Lexa’s legs, moving closer and closer to her center, and Lexa’s fingers tangled into wet, blonde hair. Her hands gently guided Clarke to where Lexa needed her most, and she stopped teasing the brunette.

Lexa was crying out Clarke’s name in a matter of minutes, and Clarke could feel when she hit her climax. She kept her grip on Lexa’s thighs as she came, supporting her while she leaned fully against the wall of the shower, but her blue gaze turned up to watch Lexa recovering from her orgasm. “Holy fuck, Clarke.”

“Mm, I’ve been waiting to do that since Thursday night.”

Lexa tugged gently on her girlfriend, bringing Clarke back to standing position. She brought their lips together abruptly, causing Clarke to almost slip. But Lexa caught her, pinning _her_ now to the wall and her hand falling between Clarke’s legs. The blonde took in a sharp breath before releasing a deep moan as Lexa fiddled with her clit. “You didn’t think I was going to let us be done before you got to come, did you?”

“That’s a thing with you, isn’t it? You can’t be the last to orgasm.”

Lexa paused for a moment, pulling away a little to look at Clarke’s eyes. Her fingers had stilled, frustrating Clarke a little. But she was curious about what she was learning about Lexa. “It’s always been harder for me… to be vulnerable enough to let someone touch me. With you, it’s pretty easy… but I guess there’s always gonna be a little bit of insecurity there.”

Clarke wanted to ask more, because that didn’t completely explain why Lexa couldn’t be the last to come, but Lexa’s fingers were moving again, faster now as they massaged Clarke’s sensitive clit and then slipped inside her. “Oh my – Lexa, please don’t stop,” Clarke begged. Lexa ducked her head down a little, her lips over Clarke’s breasts as her fingers began to move faster and more aggressively. Clarke couldn’t think about anything, she wasn’t even sure of what sounds were escaping her lips. All she knew was that it felt so good, and when her orgasm ripped through her, she practically collapsed against Lexa and the wall of the shower. “Fuck, Lexa,” she heard herself mutter. “I’m going to be sore all day.”

Lexa pressed a soft kiss to Clarke’s wet skin and then looked up at blue eyes as her fingers gently pulled out. “Whoops?”

Clarke smiled a little, shaking her head. “We better actually clean off before Anya gets here.”

“Mm. Yeah, let’s do that.”

* * *

**Octavia – So, Rae… did you do Anya last night or what???**

**Raven – Maybeeeee…**

**Octavia – Dude!**

**Octavia – I’m having a proud mom moment.**

**Octavia – Clarke, aren’t you proud of our Rae-Rae?**

**Clarke – Sorry, was in the shower. I’m very proud lol**

**Raven – Thank you thank you. She’s pretty good in bed, I’ll say. But she’s also just… nice, I dunno.**

**Octavia – Are you still with her??? Long morning after???**

**Raven – No :(**

**Clarke – Anya is headed over to Lexa’s right now for lunch. So I’ll get to see her, sorry Rae :o)**

**Raven – Bitch, if you get to be at the lunch, why can’t I?**

**Clarke – Because Lexa’s my girlfriend? Did you and Anya tie the knot already?**

**Raven – What! No! There is no knot! No knot has been tied! In fact there’s not even any rope to be tied. I don’t need to be in a relationship. I need a break.**

**Octavia – I dunno, I think getting in a relationship with an actual decent human being could be a good change for you, babes.**

**Raven – Well I don’t want to be in anything serious right now. And I told Anya that. BUT I do like her… so like, we’ll keep seeing each other. But no knot tying will occur. I need a break from all that.**

**Clarke – Whatever you say fam.**

**Raven – That is what I say!**

**Octavia – Calm down, babes.**

**Raven – Fine, sorry, ok. I guess I’m just frustrated – sexually and not.**

**Clarke – You didn’t get enough last night?**

**Raven – We were going again this morning when Anya remembered she was supposed to be meeting Lexa so** **_one of us_ ** **didn’t get to finish. She promised to make it up to me later though so ;)**

**Octavia – Damn..**

**Clarke – Sucks to suck, I got** **_my_ ** **round in this morning before we had to start getting ready for Anya to head over here.**

**Raven – Now you’re just being cruel.**

**Clarke – Love you Rae!**

Clarke set her phone down as a knock was heard on Lexa’s front door. The blonde was seated on one of the barstools in Lexa’s kitchen, and the brunette was in the middle of cooking lunch. Clarke wasn’t exactly sure what it was she was making – some kind of salad with chicken and fruit in it or something. Clarke wasn’t picky, so she didn’t mind.

Lexa opened the door to let her best friend in, and the first word’s out of Anya’s mouth were, “I hope you’re cooking because I haven’t eaten since last night when I had those chips at the bar – and I spent all night fucking so I like, _need_ to eat. Oh, hey Clarke.”

Clarke smirked. “Hey, Anya.”

“So you and Raven had a good night?” Lexa asked, quirking a curious eyebrow.

“I’d classify it as good, yes,” Anya answered, straightening out a little. “Your friend is kind of crazy in bed, Clarke.”

“I’m not sure I needed to know that, but good, I guess? She seems to think you’re pretty good in bed too, though I heard you left her a bit too quickly earlier.”

Anya scoffed as Lexa looked amusedly at Clarke. “I was trying to make it to lunch with _your girlfriend_ on time.”

Clarke laughed. “Alright, alright, fair enough.”

“I’m almost done making lunch, the chicken’s just finishing up and I’ll mix it in with everything else,” Lexa told Anya reassuringly. “So, you ready for tonight? Got all your plans to upstage Justina ready?”

“I don’t _need_ to upstage her,” Anya stated firmly, joining Clarke at the bar, “because my lovely sister and her wife-to-be agreed to have two separate bachelorette parties, just like _I_ suggested. So fuck Justina, I’ve already won.”

“So you’re _not_ thinking of ways to one up her anymore?”

“Nope,” Anya answered, crossing her arms over her chest. “Except a few things, but they’re small. Like the color of the bridesmaid dresses – I’m going to win that one, because she’s trying to put all of us in baby pink dresses and there’s no way Luna makes me wear a baby pink dress.”

“I don’t think the color of the bridesmaid dresses counts as a _small_ thing, pretty sure it’s a big deal,” Clarke said with amusement. “But hey, I’m rooting for you.”

Anya nodded happily. “ _Thank you_. Anyway, I’m expecting pretty smooth sailing for the rest of this journey to the joining of Luna and Sam in marriage.”

“Good, I’m happy for you.” Lexa was now mixing grilled chicken into her big bowl of salad and fruit and things, and then, while Anya said something else that Clarke didn’t catch, portioned it into three smaller bowls and then passed two of them to Anya and Clarke. She brought her own bowl around to sit next to Clarke at the bar and they began eating – Anya now no longer speaking in order to shovel food into her mouth.

“This is really good,” Clarke said to her girlfriend, smiling widely at her. “Thanks, babe.”

“You’re very welcome,” Lexa returned brightly. Anya swallowed her current bite of food and then, now that she was clearly less plagued by hunger, began speaking again.

“You know, I’m glad Justina and I are no longer head to head. She would’ve totally been crushed by me if it’d lasted any longer.”

Lexa quirked up an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. She would’ve crumbled under the pressure to be better than me.” Clarke looked at her girlfriend, who was clearly amused, and then continued to listen to Anya discussing how Justina was lesser than her.

She had a feeling that this engagement party was going to be _very_ interesting.

* * *

The party was at a place downtown, which would’ve been convenient if it weren’t for the fact that all of Clarke’s nice clothes and makeup and everything was at her place. But since she didn’t have her car at Lexa’s, the brunette decided to just get ready herself really early, and then they drove back to Los Feliz for Clarke to get ready. She tried to do so pretty quickly, because she felt bad about inconveniencing Lexa, even though her girlfriend insisted that it wasn’t a big deal.

Once ready, they left Clarke’s apartment and headed back downtown. Lexa had her gift for Luna and Sam – it was a small, cute décor piece for their place, which according to both Anya and Lexa, was very boring and undecorated.

When they got to the venue, they had to drive around a little to find parking, and then they clambered out of the car and started toward the party. “So, do you know most of the people who will be here, or no?” Clarke wondered.

“Um, I wouldn’t say _most_. Obviously I know Luna and Sam and all of like, our friend group. Which isn’t very big. And I know Anya and Luna’s parents – and just for reference, their mom is Anya’s birth mom, and their dad is Luna’s. Because, you know, they’re step siblings. But they’ve been a whole family for quite a while, so they’re all very close – and they were really great to me when I first met Anya in college. Other than that, though, I probably won’t know very many people. Luna and Sam have their own friends that I don’t know, and I don’t know any of Sam’s family except for what I’ve heard about the dreaded Justina.”

“Okay, got it,” Clarke said with a nod. “I guess that makes it a little easier for me, then.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t be awkward or anything.”

When they walked into the venue, it seemed like they were right on time. The place wasn’t extremely huge or anything, but it was a decent size, and quite a few people were already standing around mingling. But it was clear that not everyone had arrived. There was a small table for presents, which didn’t seem particularly plentiful. Clarke still wasn’t exactly sure how engagement parties worked, though, so she didn’t try to figure anything out about the situation.

Before they could go to the gift table, they were approached by two women who Clarke immediately assumed to be the brides.

“Lexa!” one of them, who had thick, wavy hair with a few braids through it, exclaimed. The other woman had shorter hair, an undercut on one side. “It’s so great to see you, it’s been what like, a month?”

“And you’re never in the group chat,” the other one said with a shake of her head. “Lu keeps saying that she’s going to make Anya make you unmute it, but I guess it hasn’t worked.”

“Ha, yeah, I guess group chats aren’t my thing,” Lexa said with a shrug. “It’s great to see you guys again though. Luna, Sam, this is my girlfriend Clarke. Clarke, this is Luna, Anya’s step sister, and Sam, her fiancé.”

“Oh shit, that’s right!” Luna exclaimed. “Anya mentioned that you were dating someone. It’s great to meet you, Clarke.”

“You too! And congratulations!” Clarke answered brightly.

Luna beamed. “Thank you! Oh – you guys brought a gift, you totally didn’t have to. But you can go ahead and set it over on that table over there. There’s gonna be a few toasts in about twenty minutes, then we’ll all sit and they’ll serve dinner. There’s a seating chart – courtesy of Sam’s sister, but I guess it makes things easier – over by the presents too.”

Lexa chuckled. “Okay, Luna, thank you.”

Lexa and Clarke headed toward the gift table as Luna and Sam went to greet another couple that had just walked into the room. “This is very fancy,” Clarke commented, glancing around the room. “But I guess I don’t really know what an engagement party is supposed to look like.”

“Me neither,” Lexa agreed, setting the gift on the table.

Clarke glanced around the room, and truthfully she was looking for Anya, since she would be the only other person here who she’d already met. But instead of Anya being the familiar face that Clarke’s gaze landed on, it was a different one who she found, mingling with some other random person across the room. “Holy shit,” Clarke muttered, and Lexa looked at her with confusion.

“What’s up?”

“Raven’s here?” Clarke asked, and Lexa, looking just as confused as the blonde, followed her gaze.

“Uh, I guess so. I mean… I guess Anya _did_ tell me a couple of weeks ago that she would find a date before the engagement party. But after talking to her at lunch today, I thought she didn’t care.”

“I should uh… I’m going to go talk to her,” Clarke said, looking back to her girlfriend. “Wanna come?”

“You go ahead, I’m going to look for Anya’s parents. I haven’t seen them in a while. I’ll find you in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” And with that, Clarke headed toward her friend.

Raven saw her coming before she reached her, a wide smile appearing on her face. “Hey, C. Fancy seeing you here.”

“What happened to not wanting to get into anything serious?” Clarke asked. She wasn’t trying to scold her friend, she was just genuinely surprised, and didn’t really understand the situation.

“Anya needed a date, and I happen to be the last person she slept with,” Raven stated flatly. “She texted me right after her lunch with Lexa asking if I wanted to. I’m _kind of_ pretending to be her girlfriend. Something about a future in-law that’s married who she has to seem better than?”

“Yeah, Justina, the one she was supposedly not caring about upstaging at lunch. Actually, she _said_ she didn’t care, and then she proceeded to go on about this woman for quite a while, so I guess I’m not surprised. Anyway. Why didn’t you text and tell me?”

Raven frowned. “Sorry. I guess I thought it would be funny since you didn’t know. You’re not like… mad, right?”

Clarke furrowed her eyebrows for a second, wondering if she sounded mad. “No, sorry, I have no reason to be mad. I guess I’m just really surprised. And… concerned, I guess. You just said that you don’t want anything serious, but you’re here pretending to be Anya’s girlfriend, and you met her literally twenty-four hours ago.”

“Yeah, but… I don’t know, she’s hot and nice and I like her. Plus, she asked, and now I have an excuse to get to finish this morning tonight.”

“Alright, Rae… I just want you to be careful with yourself. I think you can handle anything, but if you don’t think you’re ready for something… just be careful.”

Raven nodded slowly. “You don’t have to mom me, you know?”

“I know. I’m not trying to… but I am, you’re right, and I’m sorry.” She took a breath and a step back, noticing all of the sudden that Lexa was approaching with an older couple following her. “Oh, I think that’s Anya’s parents,” she said quietly to Raven, “have you met them already?”

“Yeah, when I got here,” Raven answered. “They already love me – her mom said that Anya and I are a _beautiful_ couple.”

“Clarke,” Lexa said as they finished their approach, “this is William and Gloria, Anya and Luna’s parents. This is Clarke, my girlfriend.”

“It’s great to meet you, Clarke!” Gloria piped up with a bright smile.

“You guys too!” Clarke agreed, and as she said the next part, she gave Lexa a pointed glance, “And I know you already met Anya’s girlfriend, Raven. She also happens to be one of my best friends.”

“Oh that’s neat,” William said, “yes we met Raven when she and Anya got here.”

“Oh, Will, there’s Sam’s parents, let’s go say hi,” Gloria insisted, pulling her husband away very quickly. As she did, Lexa gave Clarke and Raven a look of confusion.

“Anya’s girlfriend?”

“We’re pretending,” Raven answered with a shrug.

Lexa nodded slowly. “Because of Justina?” Raven nodded. “Well… okay… kind of weird, though.”

“Yeah well, everyone thinks Anya and I are a cute couple,” Raven stated, “I even had one guy ask if we were planning on getting married soon.”

Clarke lifted her eyebrows. “Did you freak out at him like you did at me earlier?”

Raven rolled her eyes. “I didn’t freak out earlier. I just said that I’m keeping it casual right now. And like I said, this is pretend, so no I didn’t freak out. It’s fine, I told you, you don’t have to mom me.”

A sigh escaped the blonde. “Right yeah, sorry.”

“Relax, C,” Raven insisted, “it’s a party.”

* * *

**Clarke – Just an FYI, Raven is also at this engagement party, with Anya, and she’s pretending to be her gf.**

**Octavia – Damn, how long do you think before she ends up actually being her girlfriend? Our Rae can’t stay single for very long, especially if she’s into someone.**

**Clarke – Lol, I guess I’d say a few weeks max.**

**Clarke – I’m just worried about her I guess… because she was all “this isn’t anything serious” and now she’s like “I’m pretending to be her girlfriend and everyone thinks we’re super cute and should get married!”**

**Octavia – It’s fine, C. You and I both know that her not wanting to be in a relationship probably won’t last, and she probably just needs some time to not be actually committed to someone. Even if she doesn’t sleep with anyone else but Anya for a while, if it makes a difference for her to say it’s just casual, that’s her deal. We don’t need to worry about it.**

**Octavia – And the last thing you need to do is go from a somewhat absent friend to an overprotective friend.**

**Clarke – You’re right. I should chill. It’s just really weird, I guess, also just because Anya is Lexa’s best friend, and since Anya is actually in the family of one of the brides, a lot more people are interested in meeting Raven and she’s only known Anya for a day lol.**

**Octavia – Don’t get jealous of the attention LOL**

**Clarke – I’m not jealous!! That’s stupid.**

**Octavia – Sure it is. It doesn’t matter anyway, if Raven does end up getting with Anya, she better get to know the in laws, right? ;D**

**Clarke – Lol okay yeah. I gotta get back to this party, we’re almost finished with dinner and there’s about to be another toast. I didn’t know how many toasts could happen at one party.**

**Octavia – Haha have fun, C!**

* * *

Clarke flopped onto Lexa’s neatly made bed – somehow that morning before Anya had arrived, it had been made and not laid in since. Clarke inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of Lexa on the blankets and pillows, as her girlfriend walked toward the closet. “So that was a fun night,” Clarke said, feeling strangely peaceful. She’d definitely been overthinking everything with Raven, but she had gotten over it, and now she was ready to spend the night with her beautiful girlfriend.

“I agree,” Lexa returned with a gentle chuckle. “It was kind of funny seeing Raven there. Anya’s totally all heart eyes over her, I’ve never seen her be so into a person so quickly.”

“Really?”

Lexa nodded. “Anya’s always been really into casual dating – or casual fucking, really. But… I don’t know, I think if she was willing to have people think Raven is her girlfriend… she must be pretty into her.”

“True.” Clarke sat up on Lexa’s bed, turning so that she was facing away from Lexa and the closet and instead facing the windows. It was dark out, but the lights from the city were visible strewn out across the view. She watched them for a few moments, taking it all in. She hadn’t done that very much since starting to visit Lexa’s apartment, mostly because she either spent it in the kitchen area, further from the windows, or having sex, during which she was much too distracted to think of the view. “I forget how beautiful it all is from here.”

“It is,” Lexa agreed, but now she was sitting on the bed behind Clarke, drawing the blue gaze immediately. Lexa scooted over next to where Clarke was seated. “I think you have it beat, though.”

Redness crept onto Clarke’s cheeks, and she bit her lower lip as she searched Lexa’s eyes. After a moment, though, she batted her eyelashes and insisted, “Flattery won’t get you anything, _Lexa_.”

“Not _anything_?” Lexa feigned distress.

“Nope,” Clarke insisted with a shake of her head.

“What will get me something then?” Lexa asked, readjusting herself so that she was fully facing Clarke, seated on her own legs. Clarke tried to think of something witty to reply with, but she couldn’t think of anything, and she was just getting lost in Lexa’s eyes. Lexa seemed to notice this, so she leaned forward and connected their lips softly. It only took a matter of seconds, though, before Lexa pressed her tongue through Clarke’s lips, and the blonde let her have full control, humming out in response to the force. She shifted her own position so that she was facing Lexa instead of the windows, the pillows behind her.

Lexa’s hands fell onto Clarke’s thighs, gripping them tightly as she pushed Clarke backwards into the pillows. The next few minutes went by in a blur for the blonde – possibly partially due to the decent amount of wine she’d had at the party, but soon she was unclothed, and Lexa was as well. Soft lips were trailing down Clarke’s body toward her center, and Clarke’s hands dropped down to tangle into beautiful, dark hair as those lips met her lower ones.

Clarke was already wet, but as soon as Lexa’s tongue began to tease around her clit, she knew that she would be soaked soon. She groaned, her thighs pressing into Lexa, the woman having to use her currently free hands to hold them apart. “Oh my – Lexa,” Clarke moaned, her hips bucking as Lexa flicked her tongue directly across Clarke’s clit. “Please.”

“Be patient,” she heard Lexa murmur, the vibration causing Clarke to feel a bit more friction, and she groaned. Lexa’s right hand moved from Clarke’s thigh to her center, two fingers brushing through her folds for a moment before creeping toward her core.

“ _Lexa_ ,” Clarke groaned, “inside me, now, please.”

Lexa obeyed, sliding her digits into her girlfriend slowly. Clarke let out a grunt as she tried to press herself further onto Lexa’s fingers. She grabbed her own breast with her left hand, massaging it as Lexa finally began to move her fingers in and out, painstakingly slowly.

“Faster, Lexa,” Clarke pleaded.

Lexa slowly picked up her pace, her lips and tongue returning to Clarke’s clit to further arouse her. Clarke felt herself getting closer and closer, her legs wrapping around Lexa as best as they could in efforts to hold the brunette there in between them. As she got closer, her mind got emptier, her only thought that she needed to come so badly.

“Lexa, I need to come, p-please!”

Lexa curled her fingers inside Clarke slightly. “Come for me, baby,” she murmured into Clarke’s center, and with that, Clarke felt her insides clench around Lexa, and she cried out in pleasure. Her back arched, and as soon as the orgasm had completed, she collapsed back into the bed. “You’re _so_ sexy when you do that,” Lexa whispered, now trailing kisses back up Clarke’s body. “Well, you’re sexy all the time, though.”

Clarke was still trying to even her breathing when Lexa reached her lips, and they shared a soft kiss, Clarke tasting herself on Lexa’s mouth, as the brunette gently removed her fingers. When their kiss broke, Lexa slipped her fingers into her mouth and sucked on them slowly, causing Clarke to moan again despite herself.

“You even taste sexy.”

Clarke laughed a little, pulling Lexa’s face toward her own for another quick kiss. “You’re too much.”

Lexa smiled, propping herself up on one arm and looking down at the blonde. “Thank you for coming with me to the engagement party. The more I think about it… the more I think how it’s so weird – amazing, but weird – to actually have a person again. To do things with, and to… I don’t know, do nothing with? If that makes sense.”

“It makes sense,” Clarke promised. “And I’m with you there. I love having a person – and you’re a pretty great person to have, so…”

“No, you,” Lexa said back teasingly.

“Like I said, too much.”

Lexa grinned. “Wanna power nap, then we can reheat some food in my fridge and go again?”

“Well, I can’t say no to an offer that good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to stay ahead in this story. If I find myself at a point where I can't because of classes (which start up next Monday), I will have to delay updates :( If that happens, know that I'm very very sorry. I'm hoping to be working this semester (waiting to hear back about a job) at which point I'll have 16 credit hours of classes, 20 hours of work, plus a lot of hours of studying ever week. Toss in cooking, eating, and sleeping, and that doesn't necessarily leave a whole lot of time. But we'll see how it all comes together.  
> I appreciate you all so much for being here reading this story, and for those of you who keep commenting. Please know that it means the world to me!  
> I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Love you guys!! xx


	14. Those Three Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is trying desperately to get out a certain few words to her girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I'm so sorry lovelies, this was supposed to go up yesterday. I picked Thursdays as update days because they're basically my Fridays, but ah, I have 3 classes on Thursdays, the last of which doesn't end until 6:45, and then last night I went to walmart, came back and ate food and was hanging with my roomies and then I started getting lots of weird back and neck pain so I passed out and totally spaced on updating. I might consider pushing update days to Fridays, because starting in two weeks I'll be working from 8pm-12am every Thursday lol. Or maybe I'll just do morning Thursday updates. Hmm.. well, we'll see.
> 
> Got more things to chat about in the end notes (I encourage you to read all of it), but for now, enjoy!! xx

**** “Can we talk about something?” Lexa heard her girlfriend ask. She was currently being the big spoon, the blonde wrapped up in front of her. It was Sunday morning, the day after the engagement party, and both of them had woken up about an hour before. It had been an easy decision to spend some more time in bed, dozing and relaxing, because the previous day, although definitely fun, hadn’t been particularly relaxing. And it was Sunday, the perfect day for relaxing. Sunlight was streaming through the huge windows, so Lexa’s eyes were closed, but she let them flicker open.

“Yeah, what about?” she wondered, not particularly concerned, because Clarke didn’t sound worried or upset at all. Of course, though, if there was something Clarke wanted to talk about, they should talk about it.

“You know on Thursday, you said you couldn’t stay over because it would be too hard for us to get to work in the morning?”

“I remember.”

Clarke paused, and Lexa wondered why she was hesitating to continue. She pressed a feathery kiss through Clarke’s hair to the back of her neck, causing her to shiver slightly. “Well, I’d like us to be able to spend some weeknights together… not like all the time, since that would be pretty hard, but some, maybe. We could take some earlier nights so we have time for one of us to do the further commute in the morning… I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to handle only sleeping next to you two nights max a week.”

Lexa smiled, pressing another kiss to Clarke’s neck and tugging on her slightly to get her to turn around. Clarke understood the cue, and she rolled over so that she was facing the brunette. “That sounds like a great idea to me. I  _ really _ do like sleeping next to you. And I like the implications that sharing a bed at night usually holds…”

Clarke grinned. “Well good, because so do I. Oh, and I wanted to tell you something.”

“Tell away.”

“I spent a lot of last week training a couple of interns to do some of the work that I do – because I do a  _ lot _ of work, as you know. And… I used to be able to handle taking on a bunch of extra work, but it’s not going to be doable now… because I want to be able to spend time with you… you, and my friends, you know? I love my job, but it doesn’t have to be what I do with every second of my life – then I could start to hate it, and that’s the last thing I want. Anyway, the point is, I won’t be working so much overtime anymore. And no more working weekends for me – it’s not like I’ve gotten much work done the past couple of weekends anyway.”

Lexa’s heart warmed at Clarke’s explanation – because it held a lot of weight. The fact that Clarke was wanting to expand her normal activities beyond just working and occasionally hanging out with friends was a big deal, especially since it included Lexa. And Lexa felt like the admission from Clarke meant that she was  _ really _ serious about this relationship, and although Lexa already assumed that she was, it was nice to hear something that kind of confirmed it. Because Lexa was starting to realize that she wanted to be all in with this woman. She was falling, fast and hard. “Hey, I’m happy for you for doing that,” Lexa said softly, “and I’m definitely not going to complain about having more time with you to myself. And I won’t have to tease you about working all the time!”

“Yeah, because you  _ had _ to do that.”

Lexa laughed, although she was aware that it almost came out as more of a school girl giggle, but she decided to pretend it hadn’t and she just leaned toward her girlfriend to press a soft kiss to her lips. “I’m happy for you, babe.”

“Good,” Clarke murmured, pulling Lexa closer to connect their lips again more firmly. And with that, they were lost in each other for the rest of the morning.

* * *

 

Lexa was pretty used to time flying by, because when every day goes exactly the same, they start to blur together. But life hadn’t been like that for the past month, because Lexa had started to care a lot more about how she spent her free time. Clarke had definitely changed that part of her life.

In the following few weeks, some things did start to make time go by a bit quickly, though. Weekdays were mostly the same, work all day, occasionally get lunch with Anya or Clarke, and then some nights, Lexa would go over to Clarke’s apartment, or Clarke would visit Lexa’s.

Weekends were almost spent exclusively at one apartment or the other, and the two of them would often hang out with Anya, Octavia or Raven on the weekends as well. Clarke was keeping up her Saturday morning hiking, and Lexa was determined to keep it up too. It was nice to hike together too – it was a calming activity, and of course, Lexa loved doing anything with Clarke.

Abby had a couple more lunches at her house, and Clarke and Lexa went both times – the second time, they got Raven and Octavia to come along too.

Raven was an interesting story, and Lexa was clued into most of the happenings with Clarke’s best friends at this point. But it helped that Raven was still regularly seeing Anya, although the two of them hadn’t declared themselves exclusive. Lexa had tried to talk to Anya about that a few times, but most conversations went the same as the first time she did:

_ “So… you and Raven…” _

_ “We’re just keeping it casual, you know? It’s nice. And she’s hot, and funny.” _

_ “Cool, I’m glad. Just… it seems like you really like her, are you sure you’re okay with keeping it casual?” _

_ “Of course I am, and it’s what she wants. She just got out of a shitty relationship, you know? Plus, I don’t need exclusivity to be happy – and it’s not like she’s sleeping with anyone else.” _

_ “That sounds a little bit like exclusivity to me…” _

_ “You don’t get it, Lexa, just leave it.” _

It probably helped that Anya was fairly distracted by both her job – although everyone was – and also her role as maid of honor for Luna. Wedding planning was majorly in the works, especially because Sam and Luna had decided that they wanted a fall wedding, which meant that the months left to plan were dropping pretty quickly already. It was nearing the end of May, and the wedding was set for the beginning of November. Anya was going crazy trying to help her step sister plan, and Lexa had been on the receiving end of some stressed out rants a couple of times already.

But even though Lexa had developed a new normal, and it was making time kind of fly, she wasn’t really upset about it. Because this was way better new normal, and because she was spending a lot of that time with a woman who she  _ loved _ .

She hadn’t said that to Clarke yet, though.

* * *

 

Lexa woke up on her two month anniversary with Clarke alone, because it was Thursday, and they’d both had busy days at work the day before. That wasn’t how they meant to start the day either, they’d planned on spending the night at Lexa’s Wednesday night, going to work on Thursday and meeting up again for dinner after work.

But Clarke’s boss had desperately needed her in the office, for some reason that Lexa hadn’t really asked for further explanation on. That sort of thing happened to her all the time, and she knew it wasn’t in Clarke’s control.

Their Thursday, though, was still supposed to be going as planned.

**Lexa – Good morning, gorgeous! I’m going to do my best to head out early today so I can come over before dinner – what time do you think you’ll be back at your place?**

**Clarke – Aiming for five! With my luck, I’ll leave early and traffic will hold me up so much that I’m home late anyway.**

**Lexa – C’mon, babe, you’ve gotta keep positive vibes :P**

**Lexa – I’ll shoot for getting there at 5:30 then, in case you’re a little late**

**Lexa – I’m so excited for tonight :) Happy two months, beautiful ;)**

**Clarke – Me too, and it’ll definitely be a happier two months once we’re actually together. I hate that it’s been a whole like, 56 hours since I last saw you :(**

**Lexa – Haha you’re cute. I’ve gotta get up and get ready to head to work. I’ll see you tonight!**

**Clarke – Yeah, see you then!**

Lexa wanted to be able to text a certain three words to finish out the conversation, but she couldn’t, because she hadn’t even said them out loud yet. And she kept kicking herself for not saying them, but she was scared. She and Clarke had been an item for two months now, and in Lexa’s past relationships, she’d never fallen in love that quickly. But she’d also never felt such strong feelings so quickly before either. Her relationship with Clarke felt like an anomaly, compared to her other serious relationships of the past. So she was scared to admit it already.

What if Clarke thought it was too soon? What if she didn’t feel the same way? What if…

Lexa shut her thoughts down, staring up at her ceiling. Her room was flooded with light, even this early in the morning, but as long as she didn’t stare straight at the window, it wasn’t too much. She sometimes considered getting curtains, but she didn’t  _ really _ care that much, and she’d rather have bright lights early in the morning and then a normal amount of light for the rest of the day than have to bother with curtains during the day.

She wasn’t sure why she was so stressed about admitting that she loved Clarke. She was pretty sure that the blonde must already know, she’d been falling for her for over a month, and Lexa was obvious, wasn’t she?

Sighing, Lexa shook her head. Of course, it didn’t matter if Clarke assumed it or not. Lexa needed to tell her girlfriend. And she would do it tonight, at their dinner, because they were celebrating being together for two months, and it was the perfect time to tell her.

* * *

 

**Lexa – I’m freaking out, An.**

**Anya – Wait what? I can’t remember the last time Lexa Woods freaked out about anything, ever.**

**Lexa – I know okay but I’m ridiculously nervous about… telling Clarke that I’m in love with her.**

**Anya – Oh shit, that’s a big deal. But why are you nervous? It’s so obvious how in love both of you are…**

**Lexa – I guess it’s because like… the last time I was in love kind of sucked, and I’ve never fallen in love this quickly before. What if she thinks it’s too soon?**

**Anya – Lexa, every relationship is different, and you know that Clarke is better than that bitch you dated before. Ok? Don’t waste your lunch break worrying about this.**

**Lexa – You’re right. I’m crazy. I need to chill.**

**Anya – Yeah, and I never have to tell YOU that, damn. If you need to call me later, go ahead. I go into work at six, though.**

**Lexa – I should be with Clarke by then anyway. But I’ll be fine, I’m just.. nervous, like I said. I’m afraid I’ll chicken out.**

**Anya – I promise you, nothing’s going to go wrong if you tell her. The worst that happens is that she isn’t there yet, but she knows how you feel.**

**Lexa – I’m pretty sure the worst that could happen is a lot worse than that. The restaurant could spontaneously combust.**

**Anya – I swear to god, Lexa, chill out.**

**Lexa – Okay, okay, I know, I’m being stupid.**

**Anya – C’mon, Lex! You’re the smooth badass! You got this! Telling your girl that you love her should be a piece of cake!**

**Lexa – You’re right. It’ll be easy. It’ll be fine.**

**Anya – That’s more like it! Now eat your lunch – I know you haven’t touched it yet.**

**Lexa – Bitch.**

**Anya – Just trying to take care of you, bitch! <3**

**Lexa – I know, thanks An. See you this weekend?**

**Anya – You know it.**

* * *

 

Lexa left her work at four forty-five, and the first thing she did as she walked out of her building and started the walk to her apartment was check her phone.

**Clarke – About to drive home and then gonna start getting ready, head over whenever you’re off, I’ll be there!**

**Lexa – Just got off! I’ll be there around 5:30! :)**

She got no immediate reply from her girlfriend, which told her that she was probably driving already. Smiling to herself, Lexa pocketed her phone again and continued her walk a bit more briskly than normal. She took in a deep breath as she thought about that night. Anya had been right earlier – there was no reason for Lexa to be freaking out about any of it. She loved Clarke, and that was a good thing. And even if Clarke wasn’t at that point yet, it wouldn’t be the end of the world to tell her.

Lexa got herself into a peaceful state of mind during the rest of her walk home. The elevator ride up to her apartment gave her time to go over what she needed to do before heading over to Clarke’s, and as soon as she was inside, she began checking them off in her head. Change into nicer clothes, check. Touch of makeup, check. Touch up hair, check. Throw together an overnight bag, check. The last thing was the bottle of wine she had in her fridge, she’d bought it that weekend and forgot to open it when Clarke was over, so she figured she’d bring it over to add to their celebration that night. That said, she would have to make sure that she didn’t get too intoxicated, considering that they did both have to work the next morning.

After all of her checkboxes were ticked, she headed back down her building and to her car.

The drive to Clarke’s was surprisingly easy, traffic wasn’t too much crazier than normal. The restaurant they were going to for dinner was close to Los Feliz, so they wouldn’t have to battle any downtown traffic for the rest of the night.

Lexa got to Clarke’s apartment at almost exactly five thirty, and she made her way to the blonde’s door, knocking gingerly when she got there. It only took a couple of seconds for the door to swing open, revealing Clarke, clad in a beautiful, tight, pink dress. Lexa herself was not in a dress, instead she was wearing black skinny jeans and a white blouse. Another thing that Lexa immediately noticed was that she was wearing heels, and Clarke was wearing flats, so she was taller than her girlfriend.

“Hey,” Clarke greeted brightly, a cheeky smile on her face.

“Hey to you too,” Lexa returned, leaning against the doorframe a little. “You look beautiful.”

Clarke’s smile softened a little and her cheeks turned rosy. “Thank you. I dug out this dress from the back of my closet – I haven’t worn it in ages, and it’s a good thing I hike regularly because or else I probably wouldn’t be able to fit in it.”

“Well, you definitely fit in it and it looks great.”

“Good to know!” Clarke stepped back to let Lexa into the apartment. “And you look sexy as hell – not that that’s different than usual.”

“Why thank you.” Lexa followed Clarke inside, and then lifted the bottle of wine she’d brought. “Thought we might be able to have some of this later?”

“Ooh, yes,” Clarke agreed, grabbing the bottle and bringing it to her fridge.

As she found a place for it, Lexa asked, with a soft smile still on her face, “Are you almost ready to go?”

“Almost,” Clarke confirmed with a nod, coming back over to where Lexa was standing by the door. “I’ve gotta grab my wallet and stuff, but first…” She took a step forward, lifted onto her toes and pressed a soft kiss to Lexa’s lips. Lexa immediately grabbed Clarke’s waist, holding her there to deepen the kiss. She heard the blonde hum happily against her lips, but then the kiss was broken. “We can’t spend all this time doing that, unfortunately. We do have a dinner to get to.”

* * *

“So this weekend should be fun,” Clarke said, folding her napkin and placing it on her lap. They’d just been seated at the restaurant they’d made reservations at. It was an Italian place, since they both loved Italian food, and one could never really go wrong with a fancy Italian restaurant. Lexa had called dibs on paying when they’d originally planned the date, and she knew that Clarke wouldn’t argue on it. They switched off paying pretty regularly, so it wasn’t like Lexa was paying for everything all the time.

And if she had been all this time, Lexa was pretty sure she would’ve backed out of this relationship already. Because in her last relationship, that should’ve been one of the warning signs, but she’d missed it. She would never miss a sign like that again, of course.

Not that she expected to get any, not from Clarke. Clarke was the total opposite – she was kind, caring, grateful… honestly, an incredible person. “Lexa?”

“Sorry,” Lexa apologized quickly, shaking her head a little. She’d been getting lost in her thoughts since they got into their Uber to head to the restaurant, but she didn’t think Clarke had noticed at all. Now, of course, the blonde had definitely noticed. “Yeah, I think so. Luna and Sam are excited to get a chance to actually hang out with all of us, too.”

Clarke grinned. “Yeah. Honestly, I’m not super used to hanging out in bigger groups – I used to in college, and even for a little while after college. But for a long while, it’s just been me and Octavia and Raven – and for a while, Zara too. It’s really nice to have a bigger group, I guess.”

“I get that,” Lexa agreed, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve never been used to having a whole lot of friends. Anya and Luna and their friends – who are really my friends too, just… we’re not all that close, I guess – are the biggest group of friends I’ve ever had. I just like seeing you with your best friends – it’s fun to see you mess around with them and stuff.”

“Yeah, we definitely have a very interesting friend dynamic, the three of us.” Clarke began to say something else, and Lexa momentarily got lost in those blue eyes, and then she remembered suddenly what she needed to tell her girlfriend tonight. What she’d worn to herself she’d say.  _ I love you _ . She felt nerves creep into her stomach, and she reached for the glass of water in front of her – the only thing that had been brought to their table yet, aside from the menus. “Lexa? Did you hear what I said?”

Lexa blinked, setting her water back down and realizing that no, she hadn’t. “Shit, no, sorry, I totally got lost in thought.”

“Are you okay?” Clarke wondered carefully, and Lexa nodded.

“Yeah, I guess my thoughts are just kind of scattered.”

“Maybe because you’re hungry? Did you eat lunch?”

Something that Lexa knew Clarke had learned about the brunette was that sometimes, if there was a lot to do at work, Lexa would push her lunch break so far that she would end up just not taking it. It didn’t happen very often, but it was something that Lexa did every now and then. Today, though, she had eaten lunch – not much, but some. “I did,” she answered dismissively, “but you’re probably right, I probably just need food. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, don’t apologize,” Clarke insisted, and just then, their waiter approached, asking them what they wanted to drink. Clarke smiled politely at the woman. “I’ll have a glass of your house Cabernet, please.”

The woman looked to Lexa, who sat up a little straighter, trying to get back to her normal self who  _ didn’t _ get lost in thought every few minutes. “Do you have a Moscato?”

“We do,” the waitress said with a nod.

“I’ll have a glass of that then, thank you.”

“Alright, a glass of Moscato and a glass of Cabernet, coming right up. I’ll be back to take your order in a little bit.”

“Thank you,” Clarke said, and the waitress disappeared. Blue eyes turned back to Lexa. Neither of them said anything for a moment, and Lexa felt her nerves creeping back. She took in her girlfriend, the beautiful woman sitting in front of her, and wondered how she’d managed to, completely by chance, find this woman at that club in West Hollywood. Lexa didn’t really think that much of what she had at this point in her life came from luck – she’d worked very hard for everything, her job, her apartment, everything. But meeting Clarke did feel a little like luck, like maybe the universe was apologizing for the shitshow it had given her as a child.

This thought made it a little easier for her to gather her emotions, and her lips began to part – she was about to blurt out those words, she could feel it, she was going to do it, it was happening.

But then Clarke said, “Hey… I’ve gotta tell you something.”

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows a little bit, only to smooth them again in a matter of seconds. “Okay, what’s that?”

“I just… this past two months, they’ve been so amazing. And I feel so grateful to have you in my life, and I just wanted you to know that,” Clarke murmured shyly. “I feel like a lot in my life has changed since then, all for the better, and you seem to be that turning point, so thank you.”

Lexa felt her heart melt at the shy little smile that the blonde was giving her, and if there were less people around, she would’ve launched herself over the table to give her girlfriend a kiss. Instead, she reached her foot under the table and gently tapped it against the blonde’s, drawing a bigger smile onto her face. “You don’t have to thank me for that, but, I mean, you’re very welcome.” Clarke laughed in amusement. “Seriously, though. I feel pretty much exactly the same way about meeting you. And you know that, though.”

“I do, you get sappy a lot after sex,” Clarke teased lightly, and Lexa rolled her eyes even though she knew that was true.

And that’s what was weird. Lexa had absolutely no problem being vulnerable with Clarke – compared to past relationships. She could spew out all her feelings, she could let Clarke have full control, she trusted Clarke  _ so much _ .

But it was those three words holding her back right now. She kept feeling them in her mouth, and they were laced with the memory of the last time she’d said them to someone in a romantic sort of way. And it was stupid to associate that feeling with those words, because she didn’t associate  _ love _ with  _ distrust _ or anything like that, it was just admitting, she supposed.

Clarke definitely already knew though, right? So why couldn’t Lexa just get it out?

“Lexa? Are you sure you’re okay, babe? You keep zoning out…” Clarke said softly, nudging Lexa’s foot now under the table.

Lexa opened her mouth to say something, anything, and she wasn’t sure what words were going to come out, but then their waitress appeared with their wine. Clarke thanked the woman nicely, but before she took a sip, she looked back at her girlfriend.

“Lexa, what’s wrong? Did something happen at work today? Was it just a long day, do you –“ Clarke asked a couple more questions, Lexa assumed, but she didn’t hear them. Her brain was churning thoughts too quickly, and it was weird, so weird, because Lexa didn’t get panicky. She was known for being smooth because she usually  _ was _ , she didn’t have problems organizing her thoughts very often. But this was ridiculously hard, and she just didn’t know why.

Blinking, she forced herself to focus on Clarke – just Clarke. How beautiful she was – with her soft blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and absolutely gorgeous figure. How impressively determined and smart she was, how kind and caring, how funny. And Lexa loved all of it. She loved everything she’d learned about Clarke in these past two months – she’d started loving them since even before then.

“—babe, you’re kind of worrying me, are you—”

“I love you.”

Clarke froze, blinking. “What?”

“I love you,” Lexa said again, and saying it the second time was truly cathartic. “Fuck, I love you. And I’ve been thinking about telling you for days, but specifically today… I told myself that I would tell you, and I was so scared of voicing it… because I don’t know, I thought you might think it was too soon to say it. We’ve only been officially together for two months, and I’ve never fallen for anyone that fast. But I also told you that I was falling for you quite a while ago, so I felt like you must know already, but obviously I had to tell you… and that’s why I kept zoning out, because I kept wanting to say it but not being able to and—”

“Lexa,” Clarke interrupted, “you need to breathe, babe.”

Lexa obeyed her girlfriend, pausing to catch her breath. Clarke was smiling now, and oh how Lexa loved that smile.

“Sorry, you totally took me by surprise,” Clarke admitted, “and I’m going to be honest… I’ve been kind of in the same boat as you. But I was going to tell you tonight – after dinner. I guess you beat me too it, though.”

“Were going to tell me what exactly?” Lexa asked, a smirk coming to her lips as she looked pointedly at her girlfriend. Now that she’d said it, now that she’d admitted to loving Clarke, she felt much more like herself. She felt confident again, and she could barely feel those same insecurities and worries that she’d felt before finally just saying those words aloud.

“That  _ I love you _ ,” Clarke murmured, bumping her toes against the top of Lexa’s foot. She must’ve slipped her flats off, Lexa realized, and she wiggled her own foot out of her high heel and kept up their game of footsie.

“Mm, I like that. Say it again.”

Clarke’s cheeks were pink as she repeated, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Lexa said with a grin, “and just saying, you should still totally say it tonight. And tomorrow night. And every night – I like hearing it.”

“I like saying it, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that,” Clarke promised. “I can’t believe telling me that was causing you so much stress, though. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that would stress  _ you _ out.”

“I know,” Lexa agreed. “I guess it’s just… you know, it’s crazy easy for me to be vulnerable with you. But that’s not really how I am naturally. And especially after my last serious relationship, which we’ve obviously talked about… after that, I guess I’ve been very careful with those words. But I knew it was ridiculous to be scared to tell you that I love you because of that – because I  _ know _ you’re in this relationship for  _ me _ and not anything else. But every time I wanted to say it, I just couldn’t… I don’t know why.”

“Well, that’s okay,” Clarke insisted. “Because you’ve said it now, and there’s no longer anything else to worry about in that regard.”

“Damn right.”

Clarke grinned, and after a beat of silence, she glanced down at her menu. “Oh, we should probably actually read these, huh?”

“Oh shit, yeah, probably,” Lexa agreed. Clarke laughed, and they both turned their gazes down to figure out what they wanted to eat for this special night of celebration.

* * *

Lexa stretched her arms over her head, rolling her wrist a little. She was laying naked in Clarke’s bed – the lights were off except for the lamp on the nightstand, which kept the room from being pitch black. And, right now, there was also light streaming in from the living area, because Clarke had just gone in there to get their wine. She’d tugged on a t-shirt before going out there, chalking it up to being chilly, and Lexa was kind of bummed about that. She liked watching her girlfriend walk around naked.

Clarke came back into the room with the bottle and two glasses, the thin t-shirt not doing very much to protect her body from the cold, it seemed, since Lexa could see her nipples very clearly through the fabric. Lexa bit her lower lip, already wanting to ravish her girlfriend again – as if she hadn’t just finished doing that three times already.

And Lexa had had a turn already, too, after those three rounds, to be pleasured. Clarke had made sure of that, but the blonde  _ had _ to know that Lexa would want her again after watching her walk out of the room without underwear or pants on. “We should do a toast,” Clarke suggested, folding her legs underneath her as she sat down on the end of the bed and handed one of the glasses to Lexa, who took it gratefully. Clarke had already opened the bottle, so she quickly poured them each a decent sized glass before setting it down on the nightstand.

“Okay, take it away,” Lexa said with a quiet chuckle.

“I guess here’s to us being together for two great months – and for being in  _ love _ .” Clarke lifted her glass, and Lexa clinked hers with it happily, a few drops of the light colored liquid accidentally spilling out of the side of her glass and landing on the comforter.

“Whoops,” Lexa said, but then she just shook her head and sipped her wine as Clarke did the same.

“It’s fine, I’ll need to wash all this bedding after tonight anyway,” Clarke pointed out, smirking. She took another drink of the wine. “This is really good.”

“Agreed.” Lexa had one more sip, though, and then she set her glass down. “But I can’t focus on drinking it.”

The look that Lexa saw in Clarke’s eyes told her that the blonde knew where this was going, but Clarke asked anyway, “Why not?”

“Because that t-shirt specifically accentuates your boobs, and I love your boobs, and I wanna touch them – and some other places on your body, too…”

Clarke bit her lower lip. “Oh, is that all?”

“You’re gonna have to set this down,” Lexa stated, reaching to take the glass of wine from her girlfriend.

“Hold on, hold on,” Clarke protested, and then she took back the entirety of her glass in a matter of seconds. “There, now we can set it down.”

“Damn.”

“What can I say? I love wine.”

“I know this,” Lexa assured her girlfriend, amused. She took the empty glass and set it next to her still half full glass. “C’mere now, beautiful.” Clarke obeyed the request, crawling on all fours toward Lexa, who took her into her lap as their lips joined passionately. Lexa’s hands busied themselves with removing Clarke’s shirt, and they had to break their kiss in order to slide it over the blonde’s head, her hair falling messily around her face as Lexa tossed the clothing away. She then stopped to examine her girlfriend’s face closely. Her pupils were blown, her lips swollen, and her cheeks pink. “You’re so sexy,  _ fuck _ .”

Clarke grinned, ducking her head to press a few soft kisses to Lexa’s neck. Lexa let out a pleased sigh, her head falling back slightly as she reveled in the feeling of Clarke’s lips on her skin. But then she remembered the task at hand, and she let her hands slide up Clarke’s now completely naked body. She stopped them when they reached those perfect, soft boobs that Clarke had. Lexa squeezed them slightly, and Clarke moaned into Lexa’s neck now, nibbling on her skin as she grinded her center down against Lexa’s lap.

“Mm, I love these,” Lexa murmured, squeezing them again and loving the feeling of Clarke biting into her neck again.

“I love you touching them.”

Lexa kept her left hand over Clarke’s breast, and her right hand roamed down the side of her body, eventually tucking itself behind the back of Clarke’s thigh, gripping there firmly as Clarke grinded again down against Lexa’s lap. Lexa pulled her head back a little from Clarke’s, causing the blonde’s lips to leave her neck, and then leaned back in to grab those swollen lips in another kiss. She sucked Clarke’s lower lip into her mouth, biting down on it just enough that she knew it would drive the blonde insane.

And sure enough, she felt Clarke’s moan, and felt her body react to all the sensations at once. Lexa was just about to flatten Clarke against the bed – opposite the way it was meant to be laid on simply because that was how they were position already – but then she had a different idea. She pulled the blonde toward her as she slid down into a laying position. When she was flat against the bed, Clarke now straddling her waist, they broke their kiss and Clarke’s eyes flickered opened, giving Lexa a look of confusion.

Lexa now grabbed the backs of both of Clarke’s thighs, tugging them upward, and Clarke seemed to understand now. She carefully adjusted her straddling position up Lexa’s body, until her center was very close to being just above Lexa’s mouth. “You’re gonna make me work for it?” Clarke asked teasingly.

“Tell me it doesn’t turn you on.”

Clarke flushed – even in the low lighting, Lexa could tell – and didn’t say anything else. She finished adjusting her position, and Lexa kept her grip firm on Clarke’s thighs for now, tugging on them a little. Clarke lowered down, and Lexa immediately began reexploring her lower lips with her tongue. Clarke, almost immediately, began moaning from above Lexa, and the brunette could feel her trying not to grind down.

Lexa slowed the movements of her tongue, trailing it up to Clarke’s clit and teasing around it for a few moments. “Lexa,” Clarke groaned, the end of her name coming out very breathy and causing heat to pool between the brunette’s legs, “please don’t tease me.”

Lexa couldn’t very easily reply, so she simply obliged her girlfriend’s request, her tongue sweeping across Clarke’s clit. The blonde moaned above her, and Lexa released one of Clarke’s thighs to free up use of her right hand. She carefully made room between her and Clarke’s center so that she could slowly insert two digits into her girlfriend. The blonde let out a throaty moan at that, and began to grind down on Lexa’s fingers intensely. Lexa quickly added a third one, and that seemed to be enough for Clarke as she began panting, in control of most of her own pleasure as she moved her body accordingly. Lexa helped a little bit, but it was true, she was kind of making Clarke work for it. She at least did keep her tongue playing around her clit, though, and she knew that was helping.

“Oh my god, Lexa – oh my,  _ fuck _ , I’m coming, Lexa, I’m coming, I’m –“ Her words cut off, interrupted by one of the many indecipherable sounds that came from the blonde when she orgasmed. Lexa loved those sounds – just like she loved her girlfriend.

Clarke stilled above her for a few moments, panting and clearly catching her breath. When she finally began to pull up away from Lexa, the brunette removed her fingers carefully, popping them into her mouth. Clarke collapsed next to her in the bed.

“Holy fuck, Lexa.”

“Mmhmm,” Lexa agreed, sliding her fingers out of her mouth now that they were sucked mostly clean. “That was pretty fucking hot.”

“I fucking love you.”

Lexa grinned, turning onto her side to fully face Clarke. “I love you, too, beautiful.”

“Happy two months,” Clarke murmured.

“You too.”

Clarke’s eyelids were already drooping, Lexa could tell that she was almost out. “Finish your wine, babe. Oh shit, I didn’t close the bottle,” Clarke mumbled, looking like she was about to get out of bed.

“I’ll do, Clarke,” Lexa promised, leaning forward and pressing a feathery kiss to the blonde’s forehead, which was slightly damp with sweat. “You go ahead and sleep. We both have kind of early mornings anyway.”

“Mm, you’re right…”

Lexa smiled, carefully pulling herself out of Clarke’s bed and grabbing the two glasses and the bottle and making her way to Clarke’s kitchen. She slowly drank the rest of her glass before cleaning both of them out and putting them away in the cabinet they belonged in. She then recapped the bottle and slipped it back into the fridge, before finally returning to the bedroom. Clarke was completely out by that point, so Lexa just turned off the lamp and curled up next to her. It was easy to fall asleep, because the day had gone monumentally better than Lexa could’ve hoped for.

Everything felt like it was falling into place with Clarke, and that was the greatest feeling in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm gonna be honest with y'all, I had a couple of Clexa story ideas that I was considering writing after finishing this one (since I'm planning to end this one on chapter 20). And I do like those ideas still, but in 100% seriousness, I'm stuck in a Choni bubble. I watched all of Choni's a little over two weeks ago and then I binged all of Riverdale and now I've been absorbing Choni fanfiction like a sponge, and I've started dabbling with actually writing some too. How many of you guys would be interested in reading some? I don't know how many people in the Clexa fandom are also in the Choni fandom.  
> Anyway, after this story, there maybe a Choni story before my next Clexa story. We'll see. Of course, I would love to be able to be writing and updating two stories at once, but that is a feat even I can not accomplish on top of everything else I've got going on in life.  
> It's kinda funny, in 8th and 9th grade I used to update two stories on the regular, alternating daily updates. Granted, the writing wasn't as good and the updates were shorter, but omg. Now I can barely manage an update a week.  
> Those of you who have been here since at least Pristine feel what I'm saying XD  
> Anyway, thank you all so much for your support on this story. I know I haven't answered comments like I said I was going to make sure and do. I'm a mess, been hammering out details for my new job and getting into the pattern of my classes and stuff. Lots of stuff going on. I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and hopefully I'll see some of you for Monday's sneak peek (if there's no Monday sneak peek, there will be no Thursday update... fingers crossed)! Follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana !! Love you all!! xx


	15. Feels Great

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa have all their friends over for some classic partying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM BACK! You guys have every right to be pissed at me, I hyped up that I was back in the zone, and then I disappeared off the face of the planet! Ok, not really, I've been on Twitter and you may have noticed that I posted another story here on Ao3 - a Choni story. So yeah, they took over my life for about 2 weeks, and I wrote a whole ass Choni story in 12 days. BUT, the following weekend (last weekend), I finished this story! It's 18 chapters, so there will be three more updates after this one, and we're sticking to this Thursday update schedule! So never fear, there will be no more random hiatuses in this story!!  
> Thank you to those of you who are still sticking with me haha, and without further ado..!
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** Clarke mixed the fruit and berries together in the big serving bowl Lexa had handed to her from one of the cabinets in her kitchen. This was about as close to cooking as she ever got, and Lexa kept teasing her about it, but Clarke wasn’t ashamed. Plus, it wasn’t like they were really cooking right now anyway. Their friends were coming over, so they were getting snacks and alcohol ready, like the good hosts they were. Or well, the good host Lexa was, Clarke supposed. If it were here responsibly, she probably would’ve provided alcohol and then made everyone pitch in for pizza. And maybe they would all order a pizza later, but for now, it was just going to be snacks.

It was Saturday evening, the weekend after Clarke and Lexa’s two month celebration. The previous weekend, Octavia had suggested that they all get together and hang out and get drunk, but upon further discussion, they all decided against going clubbing. So Lexa had offered to host everyone at her apartment for the party.

Clarke had previously, very briefly, explained to her friends Lexa’s housing situation. It had gone pretty much as expected:

_ “Yeah, so… you know how I mentioned she works at a magazine? Turns out she’s like, almost the boss of the place.” _

_ “That sounds totally badass,” Raven said with approval as Octavia nodded in agreement. They were both waiting for whatever else Clarke was clearly going to add. _

_ “It is… but also that comes with a pretty nice paycheck. And she’s not like loaded or anything – I don’t know the details anyway, but she has a…  _ really _ fucking nice apartment. It’s a studio penthouse.” _

_ Octavia’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit dude, that’s awesome! How have you not mentioned that before?” _

_ “How is it possible that you’re dating a woman who’s literally perfect in every way?” Raven demanded, although the jealousy in her voice was clearly not coming from a place of animosity. _

_ Clarke just shrugged, and Octavia demanded pictures, which Clarke didn’t have. She shrugged her best friend off, insisting that at some point they’d probably see it. Whether or not that was true, she didn’t know, but it was enough to get them to stop asking questions about it. _

So Octavia was pretty excited to see it. Clarke had warned both of her best friends not to make a huge deal over it, though, because she knew that would probably make Lexa uncomfortable, and that was not the goal of tonight.

Clarke glanced at the fruit salad in front of her and, after a moment of inspection, decided that it was acceptable and left the serving spoon sitting in the bowl. She then walked it around the kitchen counter and lined it up next to the rest of the snacks. There were a couple of bowls of potato chips, some tortilla chips and salsa, and now the fruit salad. Next to the snacks were the many alcoholic beverage choices, as well as some soda and fruit punch for mixing.

“Octavia’s going to love the free alcohol  _ and _ food,” Clarke said with amusement as she glanced to her girlfriend, who had been cleaning up the empty chip bags and wiping down the counter where she’d been cutting the fruit.

Lexa chuckled. “Well, I don’t really want everyone puking in my bathroom after getting too drunk and not having any food to balance it out.”

“Ah, so it really comes from a place of selfishness, I see how it is,” Clarke tossed back teasingly.

“Definitely,” Lexa responded in mock seriousness.

Clarke smiled sweetly at the brunette. “You’re such an adorable softie.”

“Am not.”

“You are! Your suave, cool-girl vibe usually hides it, but it’s true,” Clarke insisted. “Of course, that doesn’t mean you aren’t also suave, and cool, and smooth, and all that. Because you are.”

Lexa laughed, shaking her head. “Well, thank you, I guess.” She washed her hands quickly, drying them on a hand towel, and then walked around the island to where Clarke was standing. She wrapped her arms around the blonde, and Clarke felt herself relax into her girlfriend’s grasp. “You’re the cool one, though.”

“Hah, as if,” Clarke retorted as Lexa ducked her head down to press soft kisses to Clarke’s neck. The blonde involuntarily released a sigh, her head rolling to the side a little to give Lexa better access. “You’re all cool… and smooth… and… badass…” Her words spaced out more and more as Lexa began to scrape her teeth lightly against her skin. She inhaled sharply as Lexa nibbled down a little bit, suddenly rotating them and pushing Clarke against the counter.

All of the sudden, the blonde was lifted up and seated on the bar – not too close to all the lined up food that she was in any danger of knocking it off, thankfully. Not that she was thinking about that in the moment, though, because Lexa had moved her lips up to Clarke’s. Clarke moaned into the kiss, her legs wrapping around Lexa’s waist to keep her from going anywhere.

Lexa tore her lips away to return to Clarke’s neck, and the blonde lifted her gaze up to the ceiling as she felt those hot, wet kisses against her skin. “Ugh, damn, Lexa,” she moaned. “How much… fuck, how much time do we have, until… people get here?”

“Enough,” Lexa murmured in response.

“Enough for what?”

“Whatever you want, beautiful,” Lexa replied lowly, pulling away from Clarke a little. The blonde tightened her grip with her legs around her girlfriend.

“Well you’ve worked me up so much, might as well finish what you started.”

Lexa smirked, glancing at their surroundings. “Maybe the counter isn’t the best place to do that, though…” She suddenly gripped Clarke’s thighs, pulling her off the counter and lifting her, causing the blonde to squeak in surprise as she was suddenly moved over to the wall. She touched her feet down on the ground as Lexa pressed her into said wall, her hand sliding into the front of Clarke’s pants.

“Oh fuck,” Clarke groaned as Lexa’s fingers came in contact with her center. Lexa teased around Clarke’s clit while her lips went back to kissing her neck, and her left hand moved up to massage Clarke’s breasts. One of Clarke’s legs wrapped around Lexa, trying to get more friction as Lexa teased her around her opening. “God Lexa, we don’t have time for you to tease me.”

“But it’s so much fun,” Lexa murmured, but then Clarke’s hips bucked slightly and Lexa gave in, sliding two digits into Clarke pretty quickly. The blonde let out a hissing noise, but then she was fully distracted by the feeling of Lexa moving in and out of her faster and faster, her thumb stroking Clarke’s clit at the same time. The sensations together were enough for Clarke to begin to forget that there was even a time constraint on this, her mind wiped for anything other than this moment.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Clarke repeated breathlessly. “Oh fuck, Lexa, I’m gonna come, fuck, fuck!”

“Good, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Lexa mumbled, like a smart ass. Clarke couldn’t even say anything to her about it, though, because she was too focused on the orgasm that was starting to creep up on her. Lexa’s movements were deeper and faster with every second, and Clarke finally felt herself quivering around Lexa’s fingers.

“Oh my – fuck, fuck, Lexa, oh!” And with that, Clarke hit her climax, her head tossing back and bumping into the wall behind her. Her breathing was erratic and fast, and she felt Lexa slowing down her movements, helping Clarke down slowly. “How the fuck are you so good at that?”

“Practice?” Lexa suggested.

“That’s two times you had to be a smartass during this one round,” Clarke teased, shaking her head. But she then met Lexa’s gaze, and she couldn’t do anything but smile. “I fucking love you.”

“I fucking love  _ you _ .”

Suddenly, there was a knock on Lexa’s door. “Hey bitch, open up!” It was Anya, Clarke realized, and Lexa quickly pulled her hand out from Clarke’s pants.

“Um, I’m just gonna wash my hands real quick,” Lexa said with a chuckle, “you wanna… clean up in the bathroom?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Clarke agreed. She quickly headed for Lexa’s bathroom.

When she got back to the kitchen, Anya, Luna and Sam were all there talking to Lexa, who looked pretty calm for someone who had just finished fucking someone. Clarke was sure she was understandably more obvious, because although she’d tried to clean up her hair and whatnot, her pupils were blown, and there was nothing she could do about that right now.

“Hey, Clarke!” Anya greeted. “How’s your Saturday going?”

Clarke smiled cheekily. “It’s been pretty great, actually. I’m excited to get drunk, too.”

“You and me both,” Anya agreed. “I probably will stay more on the tipsy side, though.”

Luna smirked. “Because Raven’s going to be here.”

Anya glared at her sister defensively, growling, “No, not because Raven’s going to be here. Why would that change anything? It’s not like I need to impress her. We’re just fucking, you know? I just have to look good – and we all know I still look good when I’m drunk.”

“Uh huh, just fucking,” Sam said, lifting her eyebrows.

“What would you know about it?” Anya muttered.

“Lu and I are getting married,” Sam stated, “so she tells me  _ everything _ .”

Anya glared at Luna again, but the other girl just shrugged. “I mean, she’s right. And even Lexa and Clarke must know that you’re totally into Raven.”

“So what? Of course I’m  _ into _ her, I don’t hook up with everyone more than once. But we’re keeping is casual.”

Clarke nodded slowly, “So I’ve heard many times, from both you and Raven.”

“See, so what’s the big conspiracy?”

“There’s not one,” Lexa insisted, “I guess… we all just think that you guys are basically dating. We all know that you’ve gone out and hung out while  _ not _ just sleeping with each other.”

“Yeah, sure, but it’s casual. No fancy labels or anything.”

“And that’s fine,” Lexa agreed, “just… never mind, An, it doesn’t matter.”

Anya nodded, “Yeah, it’s none of your guys’ business anyway.” She turned her nose up a little. “Back to the topic of  _ tonight _ . Raven said she’ll be a little late, she got hung up on the phone with her parents.”

Clarke, Lexa, Luna and Sam all exchanged a knowing look, but Anya seemed to totally miss it, which was probably for the best. “Okay,” Clarke said, “well Octavia should be here any minute now. She’s bringing some limes and salt and stuff for shots.”

“Ooh, maybe I’ll mix some drinks tonight,” Anya suggested, looking at her sister excitedly.

“You should make Sam something, she’s the least adventurous when it comes to alcohol.”

“I like what I like,” Sam said in her defense. “But I’ll drink whatever you make me as long as it doesn’t taste too much like shit, so go ahead.”

Suddenly there was a knock on the door again, and Lexa went to open it, revealing an excited Octavia, a grocery bag in hand. “Hey, hey, everyone!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Hey, C! I got the goods!”

“Cool, so we’re just waiting on Raven, then we can officially start the party,” Anya said.

“Uh,  _ you _ can wait for Raven, Miss Heart Eyes,” Octavia stated, walking into the apartment over to where the alcohol was, “but  _ I _ am going to start getting drunk as  _ soon _ as possible. I’m basically seventh wheeling.”

“That’s not a thing, O,” Clarke argued.

Lexa snickered. “Actually, I think it might be.” Clarke flashed her girlfriend a look, and the brunette lifted an eyebrow, “I mean, pft, what, Octavia you won’t be seventh wheeling.”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Neither of you are helping. It’s fine, I just need to be intoxicated. Ugh, I gotta become un-single. My mom is starting to worry that I’m going to die alone.”

“Tell Aurora that if  _ I _ managed to get taken off the market, then you’re definitely in the clear.”

“Are you saying I’m a better catch than you?”

Lexa laughed as Clarke scoffed. “No, I’m not. I’m just saying that I was way less available than you are when I met Lexa. Like… mentally, I wasn’t in the mindset to start dating someone, but like, I did.”

“Yeah, yeah, C, whatever you say. I definitely heard you say I’m a better catch than you.”

“Jokes on all of you, I’m the best catch,” Anya insisted.

“I beg to differ,” Luna piped up, “I’m marrying the best catch here, sorry losers.”

“Wait – no,  _ I _ am,” Sam argued with an eyeroll.

Octavia suddenly gagged. “Alright, you people need to stop being relationship-y. Let’s take a round of shots – Rae-Rae can catch the fuck up when she gets here.” Clarke shrugged, and everyone gave in. The brunette poured six shots, and they each took one back. “Oh shit, I just realized there are snacks here! Lexa, I officially am in love with you. How do I go about stealing you from Clarke?”

“Hey, hey,” Clarke snapped, pouting at her best friend as she possessively grabbed her girlfriend. “You can’t steal her, she’s mine.”

“Aww, how cute,” Luna cooed at the two of them, and Lexa laughed brightly, leaning into the blonde.

“Sorry, Octavia, you heard her.”

Anya snickered. “If there’s anything that Lexa loves, it’s someone being possessive over her.”

Clarke looked at her girlfriend, whose cheeks flushed suddenly. The blonde knew that she was missing whatever Anya was referring to, so she made a mental note to ask Lexa later as the brunette snapped, “Shut up, An!”

“Leave her alone, Anya,” Clarke tutted, before pressing a soft kiss to Lexa’s cheek. The brunette laughed a little, and Octavia gagged again.

“I hate all of you. I need another shot.” As she prepared and took down another shot of straight tequila, there was a knock on the door. Anya practically jumped up to get the door, and Clarke knew that everyone noticed. When she swung open the door, there was Raven.

“I’m here, bitches! The party can begin!”

“Octavia is two shots into this party and the rest of us are one,” Sam said with a smirk, “so I’d try and catch up quick.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice!”

* * *

“Alright, alright,” Sam interrupted whatever Anya was saying – the blonde had interrupted her first a moment ago, and Clarke thought it was pretty funny. Luna and Sam were a pretty seemingly perfect couple, and Sam, Clarke noticed, had almost the same sisterly relationship with Anya that Luna did. Anya bickered with both of them, and Luna and Sam would tag team responses to her.

Right now, though, they were trying to get into a game of Kings, but Anya had started arguing with Octavia over which version of the rules they would play with.

“It’s not the end of the world if we play it differently one time, Anya,” Luna said to her sister, rolling her eyes.

Octavia shook her head. “You know, it’s okay, I’ll be the bigger person here. We can play  _ Anya’s _ way.”

“Thank you,” Anya huffed, leaning back against Lexa’s couch. They were on the floor in between the couch and the TV – having moved the coffee table to the side of the area to hold their snacks and extra drinks. They’d chosen the rug because it was much preferable to sitting on the hardwood floors. That said, Lexa had threatened everyone’s lives if they spilled any drinks on it – not Clarke’s life, though, she’d remembered to add. Clarke had smirked at that, especially when Anya scoffed in disgust.

They were all adults here, though, so Clarke was sure it would be fine.

“Okay so, to get us all on the same page,” Sam said, shuffling the deck of cards in her hand, “ace is waterfall – don’t stop drinking until the person before you does. Two is you. Three is me. Four is whores – aka, girls, so all of us, we don’t slut shame here. Five is never have I ever – sorry Octavia. We do three fingers for never have I ever – five is just way too many to fit in there, you know?” Everyone snickered at the joke, and Sam continued, “Anyway, first person with no fingers left loses and drinks. Six – which would usually be dicks, but obviously we all got vaginas, so it’ll be chicks. We’re getting wasted tonight, folks.”

Octavia huffed. “Wait, but if we do fours like I usually do, then we don’t have this problem.”

“What’s your four?”

“Floor. It’s like seven, but you have to slap the floor,” Octavia answered. “Then we don’t have to all drink on fours  _ and _ sixes.”

Lexa nodded. “I think that makes sense.”

Sam looked thoughtful for a moment, and then continued, “Alright, so correction, four is not whores, four is the floor. Alright, next. Seven is heaven, last one with their hand up, drinks. Eight is mate – pick someone to drink with you every time. Octavia, you’ll have the most fun with that one I think. Nine is rhymes, first person who can’t rhyme with the starting word drinks. Ten is categories, same deal as rhymes. Jack is for making a rule, you all know how that works. Queen is questions… since we did Anya’s five rule, Octavia, how do you usually queens?”

Octavia suddenly brightened up. “I think playing it like truth is fun. Everyone gets to ask the person who drew the card a question, if she answers all of them, everyone else in the circle has to drink. If she chickens out of any of them, she drinks, and the turn is over – she doesn’t have to drink like, five times, you know?”

“Got it, so that’ll be questions. And king is king’s cup! Everyone good?” Sam asked, and everyone around the circle nodded.

Luna batted her lashes at her fiancé, “Wow, my future wife is hot when she gives instructions.”

“You’re gross, shut up,” Anya said to her sister, waving her hand at her. “Let’s just start, I’m ready to get wasted!”

Lexa looked at Anya with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you were trying to maintain some sort of composure because of Ra—”

“Shut the fuck up, I told you I’m not,” Anya growled, although the blush on Raven’s face told everyone that she’d gotten the idea anyway. Raven just brought her cup up to her lips and took a sip, and Clarke knew that she needed to talk to her friend about Anya again. She didn’t very often, because she usually got the same sort of response. But after this whole group hangout, Clarke had a feeling that Raven would be thinking a lot more into her thing with Anya.

“Alright,” Clarke said, effectively ending whatever else was going on, “I’ll go first.” She drew one of the cards that Sam had circled around the empty glass in the middle of them. It was set up on large cutting board that they were using as a makeshift placemat to keep it from spilling.

She flipped the card to reveal a six, and Anya groaned. “Starting us all off strong, Clarke.” They all took a sip of their various drinks, and Clarke looked to her girlfriend.

“Your turn.” Lexa wiggled her eyebrows playfully and flipped over a card, a ten. “Category is types of alcohol, I’ll start with gin.”

Sam, who was sitting on the other side of Lexa, groaned. “Um, bourbon, whiskey, whatever, same thing.”

“Tequila,” Luna continued.

Anya smirked, and Clarke knew that was because she was all fancy with her bartending – she loved talking about alcohol. “Cider.”

Raven rolled her eyes at the blonde. “Ale.”

“Wine, duh.”

Clarke chuckled, waving her cup of beer a little. “Beer,  _ duh _ .”

“Rum,” Lexa added.

Sam groaned, lifting her cup up to her lips instead of trying to think of another kind of alcohol. “Don’t even think of laughing at me, Anya.”

“Hey, I’m not going to  _ laugh at _ you. I’ll just… silently be amused… well, maybe  _ quietly _ , not silently…”

“It’s your turn, babe,” Luna said to Sam with amusement, “ignore my stupid sister.”

“Hey, your stupid sister is helping plan your wedding,” Anya bit back, and Luna blew her a kiss playfully. Sam just shook her head at the sisters and flipped over a card, revealing a five.

“Time for never have I ever!”

Clarke laughed, taking a drink already. “I need to be more drunk to answer whatever questions you guys are going to come up with.” Lexa chuckled, leaning into the blonde a little. Clarke loved hanging out with their friends, but when Lexa did things like that to just be a little closer to her, she kind of wished everyone would up and leave so she could kiss her girlfriend senseless.

Sam cleared her through, holding up three fingers as everyone else did as well. “Never have I ever had sex with a man.”

Clarke, Octavia, Raven and Luna all dropped a finger, the latter looking particularly annoyed at her fiancée. “Really, babe?”

“Hey, who said I was targeting you? There are there others here who have also had sex with a dude.”

“Ladies are better,” Raven offered happily. “Wouldn’t you all agree?”

“Sex quality depends on the person, not the genitals,” Octavia argued. “If you find a guy who actually cares if you cum or not, then sometimes it can be better than girls who are just going through the motions.”

“We really don’t need to discuss this,” Anya muttered, shaking her head.

Octavia shrugged. “I’m just saying. Guys get a bad rap.”

“Anyway, Lu?” Sam looked to the brunette.

“Never have I ever been dumped,” Luna said, looking pointedly back at her fiancé, who rolled her eyes.

“I  _ said _ I wasn’t targeting you.”

“Well, I wasn’t targeting you  _ either _ . See – you’re not the only one who put a finger down.” The other victims of the turn were Raven, Clarke, and Lexa.

“Wait, the three of you have really never been dumped?” Clarke asked in disbelief. “I mean, O, I know you haven’t, but Anya and Luna?”

“Anya’s always been the dumper, she’s very decisive, so,” Lexa contributed, to which Anya just shrugged.

Luna, on the other hand, straightened up proudly. “And I’m just too good of a catch, who would want to dump me?”

“I’ll second that,” Sam agreed, and Luna practically grew heart eyes as she leaned toward the woman to kiss her sweetly.

“Okay, so, never have I ever had sex in my apartment less than five minutes before a guest arrived,” Anya said, her eyes focused on Lexa, who narrowed her eyes and lowered a finger.

“Are you trying to say something to me?” Lexa asked her best friend, who smirked and looked at Clarke.

“Totally knew you guys fucked right before we got there, Clarke looked all shaken up even when she came back from the bathroom.”

Clarke flushed, rolling her eyes. Raven swooped in with her turn, saving Clarke, “Never have I ever proposed to anyone,” she said, flashing a wide grin over at Sam, who rolled her eyes and lowered a finger. There were multiple people now with one finger left, and Clarke knew that with Octavia’s turn being next, either she or Raven would probably be the first out.

“Never have I ever,” Octavia started, “gone on a date with one person at the beginning of the night, and gone home with someone else at the end of the night.”

Of course, in one quick statement, Octavia got both Clarke  _ and _ Raven out, and the two of them put their fingers down and took drinks from their cups. “ _ Both _ of you did that?” Lexa asked in surprise.

“Okay, quick explanation,” Clarke offered, “is that Raven and I did this thing after I broke up with my long term college boyfriend, we each set each other up with someone and went on a double date. But neither of us hit it off with them, so we kind of got to end pretty quickly, went out to a club, and each went home with someone we met there.”

Luna smirked. “That’s some serious friend bonding.”

“I know, I was so sad to be left out of it,” Octavia muttered.

Raven looked at the brunette with a look of confusion. “Dude, you were dating someone.”

“Yeah, well. While Clarke and I were single, she never suggested that we do that.”

Clarke rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because I learned the first time that it didn’t work.”

“Alright ladies,” Sam interjected, “why don’t we get back to the game? Go ahead, babe.”

Luna turned over a seven, and everyone’s hands shot into the air, Raven coming up last to her own disappointment. She took a bigger drink than necessary, especially since Clarke herself could feel the shots from earlier completely setting in now. But hard alcohol took a little while to affect Clarke sometimes, and Raven could be different – maybe she was already edging over tipsy.

Anya now turned over a queen, and Lexa grinned. “What are you smiling about? You better not ask me some stupid ass question.”

“What makes you think I’d do that?” Lexa asked, feigning innocence. “I think Raven gets to go first, anyway.”

“You better go easy on me, Raven,” Anya said to the Latina, “or you’re not getting any sex this weekend.”

Raven’s jaw dropped. “First of all, rude. Second of all, we both know you wouldn’t hold up that promise. Third of all, I  _ was  _ going to go easy on you anyway, you bitch. How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

Anya didn’t look particularly shy about answering. “Seventeen. Not the life changing moment I’d expected it to be at the time.”

“First times are like that sometimes,” Sam said in acknowledgement.

“Alright, Octavia, ask me your question.”

“Is Raven a top or a bottom?” Octavia asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Anya opened her mouth to answer for a moment, and then she clamped it shut. She narrowed her eyes in frustration as she took a drink from her cup, and Raven smirked.

“Aww, how sweet,” Luna cooed with a bright laugh.

Octavia grinned. “It’s okay, you didn’t need to answer, I already know she’s a bottom anyway.” Anya’s jaw dropped as she realized she got played into drinking.

“Octavia!” Raven exclaimed. “First of all, that’s  _ not _ true!”

Lexa looked at Clarke with curiosity. “She’s totally verse,” Clarke said quietly to her girlfriend, “but probably prefers bottoming. I wouldn’t put it past Octavia to somehow know that for sure, too.”

The blonde tuned back into the conversation, and Anya was encouraging Raven to take her turn. Raven huffed, giving up on fighting with Octavia in favor of flipping a card. “King!” She poured the remaining alcohol in her cup into the cup in the middle and made for the drinks on the table, to pour herself something else, assumedly.

“Wait, let me make you something,” Anya insisted, snatching the Latina’s cup from her hands. Raven smiled, relaxing back onto the floor as Anya scooted over to the coffee table to mix some drinks. Along with alcohol on the table, they had an assortment of sodas and juices that they’d dug out of Lexa’s fridge.

“Ugh, now we gotta wait even longer,” Luna groaned.

Lexa snaked an arm around Clarke’s waist suddenly, pulling the blonde flush with her and eliciting a little laugh from her. “Someone’s getting clingy,” she teased.

“Hey, I’m not clingy,” Lexa argued with a pout, and Clarke could tell that she pretty tipsy at this point. She hadn’t been around a considerably drunk Lexa very much at all, so it was kind of interesting to see how she’d act when she was very drunk.

“It’s okay, it’s cute,” Clarke promised, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of Lexa’s mouth.

“Okay, okay, you two gotta cut it out before you start making out,” Octavia insisted. “There’s no way I’m going to end up sitting here while all three of you pairings start making out and ignoring me.”

“We won’t,” Luna assured her with a soft smile. Anya’s sister seemed pretty cool, and Clarke definitely liked both her and Sam. They seemed like a fun friend group for Lexa, kind of like how Clarke, Raven and Octavia were – small but very close and supportive.

“Okay, I’m done, we can continue!” Anya handed the cup over to Raven, who took a sip of it and nodded approvingly, which got a wide smile from Anya.

Octavia leaned forward and flipped over a card, an eight. She looked at Clarke with an innocent smile. “Be my mate, bestie?”

“As if I have a choice.” Clarke shook her head playfully as she flipped a card of her own. Another eight. Laughing, she looked at Lexa. “That means you, sorry babe.”

“Great, I’m at the end of a mate train,” Lexa muttered with a shake of her head. She then flipped over a card and it was their first jack of the game. “Ooh, shit, I should’ve thought of a rule at the beginning of the game.”

“I have plenty rule ideas, if you want one of mine,” Anya piped in.

“Hmm, nah, I’ve got a simple one. You can’t say anyone’s name –  _ or  _ a nickname that’s based on the name. Which means no ‘O’ or ‘Rae’ or ‘Lu’ either. If you say one, you have to drink,” Lexa said, smiling around the circle.

“Simple, but good.” Raven nodded in approval.

Lexa looked in Sam’s direction, “It’s your turn.”

Sam flipped over a card and it was an ace. “Waterfall time, bitches!” She started drinking, and everyone around the circle started drinking as the person to their left did so as well, Lexa being last. Clarke made sure to take small sips, and when Octavia finally stopped drinking, she only took a few more sips before letting Lexa stop.

“I hate being the last one in waterfall,” Lexa groaned.

“It’s your turn, Luna,” Anya said, and Lexa snickered.

“Drink, bitch, that’s the rule!” Lexa exclaimed, evidently very happy that someone had already broken the rule. Anya rolled her eyes, drinking.

Luna turned a card and it was their second king. She poured a hefty amount of her drink into the king’s cup and poured some more alcohol and soda into her own. “Alright, it’s your turn, sis.”

Anya flipped and got a two, at which she smirked and looked at Octavia. “You!”

“Fuck you,” Lexa huffed, as Octavia, Clarke, and Lexa all took a drink due to being mates. Anya just laughed brightly – or evilly, depending on whether you were Lexa, Clarke assumed from the glare those beautiful green eyes shot at her.

“Aww, is someone getting drunk,” Clarke teased, nudging her girlfriend, who pouted. “Stop being so cute, oh my god.”

“It’s impossible.”

“Gross, gross, gross,” Octavia complained, shoving the blonde playfully. “Rae, go! Oh – shit, I can’t say that can I?”

“Nope – so look likes you and your mates have to drink!” Sam said with a laugh, and Anya practically howled out laughter at the irony as the three of them all drank again.

“You better fucking hope I don’t draw an eight, Anya,” Lexa growled.

“Drink, babe,” Clarke said softly, trying not to laugh as Lexa realized she’d broken her own rule.

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Lexa groaned, drinking another time, this time a very small sip. Clarke made a mental note to maybe fill Lexa’s next cup for her to make sure she wasn’t drinking straight alcohol, because right now, Clarke was pretty sure whatever concoction was mostly vodka.

Raven flipped over a card and it was a three, so she sipped her drink and looked to Octavia, who flipped one as well – another jack. “Ooh, I get to make a rule now, huh… How about, every time you drink, you have to cheers with everyone else who has to drink. Or, if it’s just you, you’ve gotta cheers with yourself. Like, loud, over dramatic cheers. If you forget or it’s too lame, you have to take an extra drink.”

“Oh god,” Clarke muttered, “okay.”

“Shut up and take your turn,” Octavia said with a shake of her head.

Clarke flipped over her third card of the game and it was a six. Everyone looked at each other for a second, before lifting their cups and yelling, “Cheers!” They all took a drink, and then broke out into laughter as Lexa leaned forward to flip over her next card. Nine.

“How about… nine?” Lexa suggested with a little laugh.

“Fine,” Sam said.

Luna. “Dine!”

Anya. “Mine.”

Raven. “Wine.”

Octavia. “Line.”

Clarke almost couldn’t think of one, but then, “vine,” stumbled out of her lips.

“Sign,” Lexa said with a smile, looking to Sam as if she expected the woman to be out of words.

“Pine!”

Luna’s eyes widened for a second and then she hastily said, “Rhine!”

“Fuck that, Luna,” Anya huffed, taking a drink. Lexa opened her mouth to remind her of the two rules she’d just forgotten, but Anya interrupted her and said, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Fucking cheers!” Instead of taking two more drinks, she just finished off her drink and quickly poured herself another one.

“I’m definitely going to be plastered pretty soon,” Raven said, reaching for a bowl of chips. She set it in front of her, and Octavia and Clarke immediately reached over to grab a handful.

“Great minds think alike,” Octavia told the blonde through her chewing.

“I’m pretty sure I’m already getting there,” Luna admitted, stretching her arms out. “I should probably get some water.”

“Water break?” Sam suggested, and everyone else nodded in agreement.

“The names rule still applies though,” Lexa informed her guests as she stood up and headed for the kitchen. Clarke watched her walk off, her eyes lingering in a not so appropriate place as her thoughts traveled back to the events from before their friends arrived. She bit down on her lower lip, her eyes darkening, when she felt someone poke her side.

“Shit! Octavia!”

“Drink, you perv,” Octavia teased, and Clarke sighed.

“Cheers!” she called, before taking a drink for saying her best friend’s name. Lexa came back from the kitchen with seven water bottles, which she passed around the circle. Everyone made sure to drink a good amount of their bottle, and then they went back to the game, although Clarke was pretty sure that if they didn’t get the last king soon, they would just end up calling it quits.

Sam flipped a card and it was the third king, which made Clarke happier. She was pretty ready for the game to be over, just so she could stop drinking. Luna flipped her card and it was a four – and somehow, of course, Octavia was the last to slam her hand onto the floor. So she looked at her mate, who looked at  _ her _ mate, and they all yelled “Cheers!” and took their drinks.

Anya pulled an ace, and the look in her eye as she glanced at Raven before starting to drink told Clarke that this one was going to be rough. She did her best to take small sips, but even in the middle of the waterfall line, it took a while for Octavia to finally stop drinking, at which point Clarke instantly put down her glass. She was not trying to get her girlfriend anymore drunk at this point.

“Fuck you,” Raven hissed at Anya, who just batted her eyelashes, feigning innocence.

Raven flipped over a queen, and they went around asking her questions, all of which were easy enough that the Latina answered them all, and the rest of the circle had to drink. Octavia pulled a three, and Clarke cursed as she and Lexa cheered half heartedly along with her to drink. Clarke pulled a seven, and Sam was the last to put her hand up, so she cheered and drank.

Lexa pulled a two, and pointed at Anya, who shrugged and drank.

Sam got a five, but the round of never have I ever went by pretty quickly, which told Clarke that everyone else was about ready to be done drinking too. Raven was the loser of this round, though, so she cheered alone and drank.

Luna got a ten, and she named types of pasta as her category. They made it around back around to Luna, whose cheer at drinking to her own category was definitely all manufactured. Anya laughed for a good minute or so at that before finally turning over a three, cheering herself before taking a drink.

And then finally, Raven flipped the final king, dumping the rest of her cup into the one in the middle and then picking it up. “This is going to kill me,” Raven groaned. “I need a chaser. Pour me some coke, would you babe?”

The Latina didn’t seem to notice the pet name she’d used for Anya, who  _ definitely  _ did. Anya just blinked, and then quickly overcame her surprise. “Yeah, got it,” she said hurriedly, turning around to pour some coke into another cup. She handed it over to Raven, who closed her eyes and chugged down the mix of sodas, juices, and alcohols in a surprisingly short amount of time. She then chugged the whole coke, and let out a huge belch afterward.

“Yeah, it was nasty. I need a pizza. Can we order pizza?”

“Let’s order pizza,” Luna agreed, before looking at Sam and adding, “On us.”

“Aww, thanks!” Octavia said with a grin. “Shit, Clarke, all of them are giving us free things!”

“All of them?” Clarke asked in confusion.

“Yeah – Lexa, Luna and Sam… you know what I meant. I’m drunk. Let’s turn on the TV!” She looked around. “How do I turn on the TV?”

“I’ve got it,” Lexa said, shaking her head as she got up to go over to her TV, powering it on. “What should we watch?”

“Orange Is The New Black!” Anya exclaimed.

“What do you guys want on your pizzas?” Sam asked, her phone out to order the food.

“Meat! Lots of meat!” Raven requested.

“A meat lovers works for me,” Anya agreed, and Clarke could practically see the joy radiating off of the Latina – she was dating someone who actually liked meat on pizza.

“Can we do a meat lovers and a cheese?” Octavia requested, and Sam nodded.

“Alright, just gotta put in the payment info and it’ll be headed over.”

“Is everyone okay with watching Orange?” Lexa asked the group.

“I haven’t seen it,” Clarke admitted embarrassedly, and Anya gasped.

“What! You haven’t seen it?” She looked at Raven. “Have  _ you _ seen it?”

“Of course  _ I _ have,” Raven said, “we’ve  _ talked _ about it, Anya.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Sorry. Drunk. You know.”

“I know.”

Anya nodded slowly. “Um, yeah, so, let’s start it from the beginning then.”

Lexa looked at Clarke for agreement, and the blonde nodded. She didn’t think she’d be paying much attention anyway.

So Lexa started the beginning of Orange Is The New Black, and then headed for the couch, where Clarke was quickly scrambling to join her. Octavia was also on the couch in a matter of seconds, taking over the whole half that Clarke and Lexa were not on and leaving the other two pairs on the floor.

“Don’t mind us, we’ll just be here on the rug,” Anya deadpanned.

“It’s okay, you can lay on me,” Raven offered, smiling toothily. Anya stared at her for a moment, before just giving in and laying down, resting her head in Raven’s lap.

Clarke looked at Lexa with amusement, and the brunette whispered, “They’re  _ so _ gonna make it official soon.”

“Duh,” Clarke agreed.

* * *

Clarke peeled her eyes open, realizing that she was alone on the couch. She sat up slowly, tuning into the sounds coming from the kitchen.

“Yeah, Zara didn’t eat meat on pizza, which was fine except that we could never eat two pizzas, so I always just sucked it up and got a cheese or a veggie to split with her,” Raven was saying, “so I’ve been reveling in the fact that I can have meat on pizza all the time again.”

“I would’ve just ordered two and kept leftovers for later,” Luna suggested.

“Yeah well.”

“I’ve never been a huge fan of meat on pizza,” Lexa admitted, “but I’ll eat pretty much anything, in all honestly. And any pizza is better than no pizza.”

“Lexa and I have always had that in common about pizza,” Anya agreed.

Clarke finished sitting up and looked over the couch to see everyone in the kitchen, some standing and some seated, eating pizza. She stretched her arms over her head, and Lexa noticed that she was up. “Hey, sleepy head,” the brunette greeted with a silly smile. “Come get some pizza.”

“How long was I asleep for?”

“Like half an hour, the pizza just got here a few minutes ago and your girlfriend wouldn’t let us wake you up,” Raven explained, disappointment in her voice. “I suggested pouring water on your face.”

“No,” Octavia interrupted, “you suggested pouring  _ vodka _ in her face.”

“I thought it was water!”

Clarke shook her head, standing up from the couch and moving over to the kitchen to where Lexa was. The brunette had already grabbed her some pizza and put it on a plate, and the blonde gave her a grateful smile before beginning to eat.

“So I think after this, Sam and I are gonna Uber home,” Luna said, “this was a lot of fun, though, you guys.”

Lexa smiled at the two of them. “I’m so glad you guys could come.”

“I guess that means the rest of us should probably leave too, huh?” Octavia asked, taking a bite of her pizza.

Lexa shrugged. “I mean, we didn’t set a deadline of you guys getting out. But yeah, there’s really nowhere for you guys to crash here anyway. Did any of you guys drive?” Everyone shook their head, and Clarke smiled a little. She was glad that her friends knew better than to drive when they were planning on getting drunk.

“There are probably lots of drivers around downtown on a Saturday night, huh?”

“Probably.”

As they finished up their pizza, Octavia, Luna and Anya all opened their Uber apps on their phone, which suggested that Raven was just going home with Anya, which Clarke wasn’t surprised by anyway.

And with that, about fifteen minutes later, all of their guests had gone, after exchanging hugs and goodbyes for a good couple of minutes, as if they wouldn’t all see each other again for a while. Once the apartment was empty aside from Clarke and Lexa, the blonde looked around and realized that there was kind of a mess of cups and snacks around. “We should clean up…”

“We  _ should _ … but we can do that tomorrow too,” Lexa said, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. “And instead of doing it right now, you can let me take you to bed with me…”

“You are a clingy drunk, huh?” Clarke murmured, pressing a soft kiss to Lexa’s chin, and then the corner of her lips.

“Not clingy,” Lexa argued, bringing their lips together for a real kiss that lasted quite a few seconds. “Just… I love you. And I like touching you.”

“I love you too.” Clarke joined their lips again for another kiss, this time slipping her tongue in between Lexa’s. Lexa let out a quiet moan, wrapping her arms tighter around Clarke to bring them impossibly close together. Clarke pulled out of the kiss though to look into Lexa’s sparkling green eyes, which were shiny from her being pretty drunk. “Can I ask you something?”

“Mmhmm, of course.”

A smirk slowly came to Clarke’s lips as she wondered, “What was Anya talking about earlier, when she said you like someone being possessive over her?” Lexa’s face suddenly turned a deep red, and she buried her face in Clarke’s neck to hide it.

“Ugh,” Lexa mumbled, “well, I guess one time…” Lexa pulled her head back and looked at Clarke, her face still red. “One time in college, I was in my bedroom of my apartment with my girlfriend at the time. She and I hadn’t been together very long,  _ but _ she had quickly discovered that one of the easiest ways to get on top of me was… I don’t know, to be really possessive. And uh, apparently my roommate hadn’t locked our apartment door when she left earlier that day, so Anya waltzed on in and heard us in the bedroom. And she’s never let me live it down.”

Clarke lifted an eyebrow, sliding her hands into the back pockets of Lexa’s jeans. “Interesting, how come you haven’t told  _ me _ this?”

“I don’t know. It’s already easy for me to let you top me. And you don’t mind bottoming, which, the girl at the time, she hated bottoming. Which like, I’m not always the biggest fan of being the bottom, which is why all that ended up happening. And also one of the contributing factors to why we didn’t work out. Sex is very important to me.”

“I’ve learned,” Clarke said with a chuckle. “I’m glad things didn’t work out between you and her.”

Lexa smiled. “Me too.”

“So… possessive how exactly? Just like… you’re mine?”

“Yeah, or like… I don’t know if this would really work for us right now, but if we’d been out and some girl had tried to hit on me… if you got possessive and wanted to fuck me to prove that I’m yours or something like that… I’d be  _ all _ yours.”

“You’re already all mine,” Clarke murmured, squeezing Lexa’s ass through her pants.

“Mm, yes, but… you know what I mean.”

“Well… I’ll definitely keep all this in mind…”

Lexa chuckled. “Right now, though, I really would like to take you over to my bed and fuck you senseless. If you want to, of course.”

“I do want to,” Clarke breathed out, her core already waking up, “but you have to let me return the favor at least once.”

“Deal.”

“Well then, would you like to escort me to your bed, Lexa?”

“Yes, I would.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still have two episodes left to watch of S5 of The 100, I've been kinda nervous to finish it up because like, I've heard so much craziness about it haha. Maybe I'll get around to it this weekend, BUT, this weekend is Dallas Pride, so I'll be at the parade on Sunday! #hype  
> Anyway, about this story real quickly!! So this chapter will fluff and smut mostly, the last three chapters will begin to round out this story. Originally, I planned for this story to be 20 chapters long, but one of the story arcs I was planning didn't end up as long as I thought, so wrapped it up at 18. I hope that's ok <333  
> Thank you guys so much for reading, kudosing, commenting, all that! I appreciate you all so much! Remember to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana , and I'll see you all next Thursday!! xx


	16. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa gives Clarke a surprise gift, and Clarke surprises Lexa later using said surprise gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies!!   
> Some of you might recognize parts of this chapter, if you've ready my one shot "Hooked On All These Feelings" !! I loosely based this story around that one shot, and I finally reached the point where I believe it would've happened, but I flipped half of it so that its in Lexa's point of view instead of Clarke's. Also, there are definitely some lines that I changed as well, but it's pretty close to the one shot.  
> Anyway! I hope you all are having a lovely week!!
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** The day following the party at Lexa’s apartment, although Clarke did not want leave Lexa’s bed at all, the blonde knew that she needed to talk to Raven. So she texted the Latina, announcing that they were going to grab lunch together at noon and demanding that she show up on time – showered and dressed. Of course, she was joking with the demanding and whatnot, but also she was being serious.

How quickly Raven agreed reinforced the thought that Clarke had that Raven really did need to talk to someone.

So when they arrived at one of their favorite cafes, and they’d gotten their food, Clarke didn’t beat around the bush. “So, Rae…”

“I know what you’re gonna say.”

“What?”

“Me and Anya. She likes me.”

“Well, yes,” Clarke agreed slowly, hesitating for a moment before adding, “but what I really was going to say is that  _ you _ like  _ her _ .” Raven looked defensive for a moment, and then she sighed.

“Yeah, but… not  _ that _ much.”

“Don’t lie, Rae. You called her babe yesterday. You wanted her to lay on you during the show. You don’t want just casual sex and friendship with her, and I think… I’m afraid you’ll end up hurting her without meaning to if you keep avoiding it,” Clarke said softly. “And I care about you so much Raven, and I know you’ll hate yourself if you hurt her just because you’re scared.”

“I’m not  _ scared _ .”

“Okay, well, whatever you are, I think you’re using that feeling as justification to keep your feelings under wraps.”

Raven ran a hand through her hair. “It’s hard, Clarke. I already set up these… parameters to our relationship. What if she  _ doesn’t _ want me for more than what we’ve already agreed upon? I can’t go through another breakup for any kind again already.”

“You said it yourself, Raven, she likes you.”

Raven begrudgingly took a bite of her food and then propped her jaw up on her fist. “I was deflecting when I said that.”

“Well, I think it’s true. I think she’s trying to put up a good front because she thinks you don’t want to go any further. You just need to have a conversation about it, Rae. Give it a chance. Ask her how she’s feeling, admit that you’re curious to see how it’ll go,” Clarke suggested. “You don’t have to bare your heart and soul to her to try adding emotions to your relationship with her.”

“Okay, maybe I am just scared,” Raven murmured. “You don’t get it, Clarke. She’s  _ amazing _ . I could fall in love with her.”

“So go for it, Raven. You deserve someone great like Anya after how everything ended with you and Zara.”

Raven nodded slightly. “You’re right… ugh, I just… don’t know how to do it. She’s gonna notice me being weird and she’s gonna think she did something wrong and—”

“And you’ll tell her that she didn’t, and explain that you’re feeling like you want more than sex. It’s not gonna be the end of the world, Rae, I promise. And Octavia and I have your back no matter what. The worst that happens if that she isn’t feeling it, and you call things off and return to being friends before anything gets actually to the point of love.”

“I guess it  _ would _ suck a whole lot more if I fell in love with her,  _ then _ told her, and she was just wanting sex the whole time.”

“See? You just have to talk to her.”

Raven nodded. “You’re right. Okay. I will. Sometime soon… I’ll figure it out. Thanks, Clarke. And… I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch about this.”

“Don’t be. I get it, you’ve been struggling with it. I just want you to know that I’m here for you. I want you to be happy, Rae.”

“Thanks, dude.”

“Of course.”

* * *

Lexa liked consistency when it came to her workload, but the fact was, summertime was the busiest time of the year for the magazine. More people spent time reading the magazine during the summer than the spring. Winter was a close second, but people loved themselves a good magazine by the pool in the summer heat.

Because of that, the push to get the most excellent stories out and feature the most interesting topics made Lexa’s job a whole lot harder. Especially because in the past few weeks, Jenna had been having about half of the writers get their stories approved by Lexa instead of her. And Lexa was definitely happy for this added job – and the small boost to her salary she’d negotiated out of it – but it was a lot of work.

She went back to usually not leaving the office until around seven, but it was driving her crazy. Clarke had made such strides to lower her workload coming into this summer, training interns and whatnot, and was usually free after five every day. Thankfully, though, Lexa didn’t let any work trail into the weekends at least, so she spent most weekends fully with Clarke, and sometimes their friends.

But coming onto their four month anniversary, Lexa found herself in a routine of getting off work at seven, walking home while talking to Clarke on the phone, shoveling some food into her body, and then getting ready for bed and passing out instantly. And she was getting too used to this routine – she didn’t like it. But she didn’t know how to fully fix it.

Luckily, though, Clarke was very understanding about it all, so it wasn’t really doing any harm to their relationship. Lexa just couldn’t wait for the fall edition of the magazine, when the pressure would let up a little bit. Plus, she always felt like the fall editions were more fun.

One particular rough Monday got Lexa trying to think of ways that might help her get to see Clarke more often, even with how much she was working. During her walk home, she walked past a Key Me store, and although she had walked past it hundreds of times before, it suddenly lit a lightbulb in her head, and she hurried over to it, hoping it hadn’t closed yet.

Thankfully, it was still open, so she pushed her way in and grabbed her apartment key out of her small purse.

It wasn’t too expensive to get it duplicated, and since it wasn’t busy in the store, it was a pretty quick process. She handed some cash to the guy at the desk, taking her key and its new copy and continuing her walk home.

As soon as she got home, she hopped into her car and started the drive to Clarke’s, dialing the blonde on her Bluetooth. Clarke answered in a matter of seconds. “Hey, babe, did you just get off?”

“Actually, I got home, and I’m headed over to yours.”

“Oh really?” Clarke asked in surprise, though Lexa knew it was a pleasant surprise, because they had both gone into this week assuming they wouldn’t see each other until maybe Friday night or at least Saturday for their morning hike. “I’m going to order takeout then, what do you want, Chinese?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want,” Lexa agreed brightly. “I have something for you, too.”

“Ooh, a present? For what? It’s not our four months yet.”

“You’ll see. I’m gonna hang up, I’m driving and you’re on my Bluetooth right now.”

“Alright,” Clarke said with a light laugh. “Love you, see you soon.”

“Love you too!” Lexa ended the call there, smiling to herself as she drove. She had a feeling that this was a gift that Clarke would not be expecting, but that would make her smile. And Lexa would do a lot of things just to see Clarke’s beautiful smile, paired with those brilliant blue eyes lighting up.

Lexa smiled to herself, focusing on the road in front of her as she got closer and closer to Clarke’s apartment.

When she got there, she felt herself getting more and more excited to give her gift to her girlfriend, and when that door finally swung open to reveal the beautiful blonde, she practically exploded with excitement. “Hey, babe!” she greeted brightly.

“Come on in, gorgeous,” Clarke said, stepping back to let her in. “What’s with the surprise visit – not that I’m complaining or saying that you need any reason to visit.”

“I got you something.”

“Oh right, the surprise gift. What is it? Actually wait, let’s sit and eat first, I’m hungry and I know you’re practically starving.”

They closed Clarke’s front door and went to her small dining table, where Chinese food was set out, waiting to be eaten. Lexa sat and gratefully opened one of the containers and started eating. “Thank you,” she said sweetly to Clarke. “It’s so nice to see you on a weeknight.”

Clarke laughed, nodding. “Yeah, it’s nice. I wish we could do it more often, but you know.”

“Yeah, my work has to just keep creeping into our time,” Lexa said with disappointment. “Which is why I got you something! It might make it a little easier for us to see each other more often during the week…” She reached into her purse, grabbing the loose key and pulling it out, setting it on the table in between the two of them.

Clarke’s eyes lit up, like Lexa had pictured them during her drive, and the blonde slowly grabbed the key and looked up at Lexa. “Is this to your place?”

“It is. So now, anytime you feel like we haven’t seen each other recently enough, you can pop on over even if I’m not there yet. Or you know, basically anytime. I don’t know, it just seemed like it could be helpful, you know? At the very least, it means I don’t have to go and let you in if you ever come over while I’m asleep or in the shower or something.”

Clarke was laughing at the slight rambling Lexa realized she was doing, effectively silencing the brunette and instead just bringing a smile to her lips. “Well thank you, I look forward to using it. But since we do have tonight together now that you’re here, I think we should eat this food as quickly as possible so we can get to bed on time to  _ not _ have to just sleep.”

Lexa winked. “I like the way you think.”

“Good, so eat your food, you dork.”

* * *

**Clarke – I miss you, I’m gonna have to come steal you from work one day to finally get you all to myself again.**

**Lexa – You know I’m all yours anyway**

**Clarke – Yes, but every time I go to sleep alone, I think of sleeping next to you, and how much nicer it is.**

**Lexa – I relate. I can’t ever stop thinking of all of the things I want to do to you.**

**Clarke – What things are those?**

**Lexa – There are too many to list them – too many for just one night.**

**Clarke – I really miss you. I can’t believe we haven’t seen each other since MONDAY.**

**Clarke – Off break, call me when you get off. Love you.**

**Lexa – I love you too!**

* * *

Lexa got off work later that evening and did not see any text from her girlfriend that indicated that she would be coming over that night. That wasn’t super surprising, because some Fridays when Lexa got out this late – after seven – Clarke would just sleep early and come over early Saturday morning before they made the drive back to Griffith Park for their hike.

But since it was their norm, Lexa grabbed her phone to call her girlfriend as she started her walk back to her apartment. The answer came pretty quickly.

“Hey, baby,” she heard Clarke’s soft greeting. “You off work?”

“Yep, finally,” Lexa answered. “I just walked out of the building, on my way home. What have you been up to?”

“Not a lot,” Clarke admitted.

“You sound tired.”

Clarke hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, I am a little. But not too tired to talk for a bit.”

“Well that’s good to know. How was work?”

“Boring, but productive. Next week will be a little more interesting – hopefully. How about you?”

“Stressful, as per usual. Longer than normal, because this one guy couldn’t figure out what angle he wanted to take on this story. I gave him like six options, and I think that just made it take longer.”

“Mm yeah. You deserve a full night off, though. Or a whole evening. Like, one where we both get off early or something.”

“You’re probably right. We should coordinate a night for that.”

“Okay, we can do that later. So. What are your nighttime plans?” Lexa could hear the smile in Clarke’s voice, and it made her smile.

“It’s kind of late, so I guess I’ll just go home, make some food, and sleep? What about you? Are you going to sleep soon? We’re going running tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah probably, and yes we are! And babe, you work way too hard, why don’t you just buy takeout?”

“I like cooking,” Lexa reminded her girlfriend. “I feel like pasta or something, so I’ll just make it when I get home.”

“Fair enough,” Clarke breathed out. “Maybe I’ll watch Netflix. Any suggestions?”

Lexa lifted an eyebrow, thinking about the question for a moment and then remembering that Octavia had been forcing Clarke to watch Grey’s. “Weren’t you in the middle of Grey’s Anatomy?”

“Yeah, but I’m bored of it. A bunch of weird shit started happening in it.”

“That’s kinda the whole show, you know?”

“Maybe it’s just not really my kind of show.”

“Sure, Miss My-Mom-Is-A-Doctor,” Lexa said with amusement. “I don’t know, watch season three of Skins.”

“What’s that?” Clarke wondered.

“It’s a British TV show from a while back. Every two seasons was sort of a different set of characters.”

“Let me guess – the second set of characters include some lesbians?”

“Are you making fun of me for the kind of shows I watch?”

“Not at all.” But Clarke was smirking.

“You better not be, because you know that the only time I even watch TV shows is when Anya makes me.  _ Plus _ , the only reason you agreed to watch Grey’s was because of Callie and Arizona.”

“Fuck off, that’s not true.”

“Mm, yes it is, babe. I have the texts to prove it.”

Clarke let out a little puff of air. “Alright, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Maybe I’ll check it out.”

“It’s good. Or well, I mean it’s not bad. You know. It is what it is.”

“Sure, Lexa.”

“Don’t make fun of me. It was a long day.”

“Always a long day, huh?”

“You know it.”

“You’re getting close to your place by now, huh?”

“Yep – you’re getting eerily good at knowing that, by the way. Are you sure you aren’t tracking me?”

“I’m positive. Well hey, I’m going to let you go then, so you can make your food.”

Lexa frowned. “Aw, but I can talk to you and make food at the same time.”

“I need to get ready for bed anyway, so I can curl up and watch Netflix. I’ll call you right after I do though, okay? So we can talk while you cook,” Clarke promised.

“Okay,” Lexa agreed. “Love you, Clarke.”

“I love you too, babe.”

Lexa hung up the call and looked ahead toward her apartment, she was only a minute or two away now. Pocketing the device, she sped up her pace – she was feeling pretty hungry, and she probably should try and sleep kind of early, since she and Clarke were supposed to go running together first thing.

She let out a long sigh. She really did miss her girlfriend.

She made it up to her apartment door, and as she inserted her key into the lock, she felt her heart drop as she realized it was already unlocked. Had she forgotten to lock it? No, she’d never forgotten before. Pursing her lips and preparing for the worst, she slowly opened the door.

“Hello?” Lexa called hesitantly. But then her eyes lit up as she saw her girlfriend peeking around the corner from her bedroom area. “You just about gave me a heart attack, oh my god. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to surprise you,” Clarke said in a low voice, stepping around the corner entirely now to reveal her full outfit—nothing but lacy underwear and one of Lexa’s white button down shirts. “And I was getting bored of my clothes while I was waiting.”

“Mm, well you do look very sexy in  _ my _ clothes. I guess you weren’t bored of the underwear, though, huh?” Lexa, no longer caring about her hunger for  _ food _ , was approaching Clarke now.

As Lexa stopped in front of her, Clarke answered, “Well, I know you get bored of my underwear pretty quickly, so I figured I’d leave it for you to take off.” Lexa’s eyes were darker now, and she was about to grab those tempting lips in a quick kiss, but Clarke suddenly stepped back teasingly. “You gonna come take it off, or what?”

Lexa hummed, taking a tentative step forward. “Trying to play games, huh?”

“Games? I don’t play games, babe.”

“Uh huh, sure you don’t.”

Clarke took another step backwards, and Lexa copied her movements, but this time she took two steps, and she destroyed the distance between them with a deep kiss. It was all tongue and teeth. Her long fingers were cupping Clarke’s ass over the lacy underwear and squeezed softly, and the blonde was stumbling backwards.

Clarke’s back pressed against the glass window, and a loud moan ripped out of her throat as Lexa separated their mouths in order to fully undress the blonde. Green eyes turned downward to find the correct buttons that needed to be pulled apart, and Lexa took care to not rip her own shirt as she undid them. But as soon as the shirt had fallen from Clarke’s body, Lexa brought their lips back together again roughly.

“I missed you so much,” Lexa whispered hotly during a breath, and Clarke tried to make some sort of sound of agreement, but Lexa couldn’t fully understand it. Not that it really mattered – it was probably pretty obvious that Clarke had missed Lexa. She was basically ready to come already, and Lexa hadn’t even touched her yet.

Lexa’s hands traced up her midsection, finding their way to the matching bra that really didn’t look like it provided much support for Clarke’s generous sized breasts. Lexa ignored the garment, her hands going straight under the material and grabbing Clarke’s boobs in her hands. Lexa’s lips were now on Clarke’s neck, and the blonde moaned out, “Lexa,  _ fuck _ I’m wet.”

“Someone was horny today, huh?”

“Your fault – you fucking texted me that you couldn’t stop thinking of all the things you wanted to do to me,” Clarke groaned out, her body arching into Lexa’s by reflex.

“That’s because there are  _ so _ many – they occupy my thoughts  _ all _ the time.”

“Ugh, won’t you just fucking touch me already?”

Lexa chuckled lowly, her right hand sliding down Clarke’s midsection as her left hand fiddled with Clarke’s nipple. “So demanding…”

“I’ve been waiting for you for like, an hour,” Clarke whimpered.

“That long, huh?”

“ _ Lexa _ ,” Clarke groaned in annoyance, her hips bucking as Lexa’s fingers teased the top of her underwear.

“Okay, okay…” Lexa carefully slid her hand into Clarke’s panties, her fingers gingerly meeting the warm wetness between the blonde’s legs. Lexa let out a quiet groan. “ _ Holy fuck _ you’re so wet.”

“Yeah, I fucking know, just touch me already,” Clarke demanded.

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Lexa bit back teasingly, but Clarke wasn’t having any of that. Her left hand rose to grab her other boob – the one that Lexa had released – and she shot her right hand toward her own center. “Hey, hey,” Lexa interrupted, her right hand acting quickly to grab Clarke’s wrist, “no.”

Clarke let out another whimper type sound, and Lexa finally obliged, inserting two fingers into Clarke easily as a third began to rub against her clit.

“Better?” she asked lowly, even though she knew that Clarke wouldn’t be answering coherently.

“ _ Fuck _ ,” Clarke moaned as Lexa lowered herself, pressing hot, wet kisses to Clarke’s bare midsection, and then down to the insides of her thighs. Clarke practically quivered there against the window. Lexa’s fingers were moving too slow inside her, and the teasing kisses were driving her even more insane.

“What’s that?” Lexa murmured against damp skin. She brought her lips to the outside of Clarke’s underwear, blowing cool air against it and the surrounding skin. Clarke shuddered, one of her legs lifting now by reflex. Lexa chuckled, using her free hand to remove the underwear from her girlfriend. Once it was gone, Lexa stopped teasing and brought her mouth straight for her prize. Her left hand gripped Clarke’s ass and upper thigh as her right worked magic inside of her, and Lexa’s tongue did the rest.

Clarke came pretty quickly, but Lexa wasn’t surprised or concerned, because she’d clearly been worked up. Immediately following, Lexa exited the blonde and rose up to press her lips against Clarke’s, allowing the blonde to hastily push her toward the bed. As soon as Lexa was pressed against the previously smoothed out covers, Clarke did her best to pin her there, despite Lexa’s slight resistance. She braced her legs against Lexa’s, and grabbed the brunette’s wrists to hold them against the bed. Her mouth, meanwhile, attacked Lexa’s, their tongues and teeth clashing, and Lexa let out a groan.

Lexa wanted to flip them – to be on top again – but Clarke clearly wasn’t going to let her just yet. She moved her lips to Lexa’s neck, nipping at her skin gently before sucking on it more aggressively. Lexa released a quiet moan, starting to give up on her task of returning to the top, she was getting too worked up, and she desperately needed Clarke in between her legs.

“Ugh, Clarke,  _ fuck _ ,” Lexa moaned, her right leg wrapping around Clarke’s, trying to bring her center closer to the blonde. As Clarke’s left hand began to work against Lexa’s clit, teasing around her core, her right began to fumble with Lexa’s top, trying to get it off. She finally got it, and Lexa helped her rid the garment from her body.

Clarke’s lips fell to the tops of Lexa’s breasts, which were still mostly enclosed in the brunette’s bra. Her right hand slipped underneath Lexa to unclasp it, and then it was gone in a matter of seconds.

Lexa’s breaths were becoming quicker and more airy, and she was trying to muster up the words get Clarke to  _ get to the point _ . Lexa’s nipples were between her teeth and her tongue, her left hand still teasing Lexa’s clit. Lexa’s hips were beginning to move a lot, trying to create more friction.

“Fuck, Clarke, please,” Lexa pleaded, her voice surprisingly strong.

“Please what?” Clarke asked, before pressing her tongue and lips back to Lexa’s breast.

Lexa let out a moan, thrusting her hips again and then finally saying, “Inside me, p-please.” Clarke took a moment before fulfilling her girlfriend’s request, but when she finally did, she didn’t make Lexa wait any longer. Her fingers began moving quickly in and out of the brunette, still toying with her nipple with her tongue. “Oh god, fuck yes – Clarke, y-yes – holy!”

And from there, none of Lexa’s exclamations were perfectly understandable, because the feeling of Clarke inside her was completely intoxicating. She felt herself going up and up, until finally, an orgasm was shaking through her body intensely.

When Lexa fell into the blankets and pillows, trying to catch her breath, Clarke gently pulled her fingers from inside Lexa, bringing them up to her mouth and sliding them in between her lips. She hummed, closing her eyes as she sucked them clean, and Lexa watched her with dark eyes. Clarke then let it drop onto the blankets next to Lexa, and she opened her eyes to meet Lexa’s. Their lips met in a second, the intensity upped despite the fact that they’d both had turns already.

Clarke began to desperately undress her girlfriend the rest of the way, unbuttoning her pants and pulling them off rather hastily. Lexa kicked them away once they’d fallen low enough, leaving only her underwear on her body, and that was an easy fix. Once naked, Lexa flipped them over, her mouth owning Clarke’s as her hands began to explore every inch of the blonde’s body.

“So sexy,” Lexa mumbled into Clarke’s mouth, the words barely discernible. Lexa pulled her lips from the blonde’s after, moving them lower, passing her boobs and instead pressing against Clarke’s abdomen.

“How sexy?” Clarke breathed out, looking down and watching as Lexa practically worship her skin. The blonde squeezed her thighs together, and Lexa grunted, pulling her head up and looked up at the blonde, her dark green eyes making contact with dark blue.

“You already know that you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on,” Lexa said lowly. “Pretty sure I’ve told you more than once.”

“Mm, I just love hearing you say it.”

Lexa smirked. “A bit narcissistic, huh?”

“Oh never,” Clarke said back, biting her lower lip.

“It’s okay,” Lexa murmured, resting her chin on Clarke’s midsection. “I love you and your cocky self.”

“I’m not cocky – if either of us is cocky, it’s you,” Clarke insisted. Lexa lifted an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah, how so?”

“You’re just…  _ you _ , and you know it.”

“I’m cocky for knowing that I am myself?”

“That’s not – fuck, I meant – ugh, just come up here and kiss me,” Clarke huffed out, and her girlfriend obeyed, smirking as she crawled back up the bed to press her lips against Clarke’s. Clarke carefully began to adjust her position slightly, and managed to bring her fingers to Lexa’s center without the brunette knowing until they were there.

“Oh fuck,” Lexa breathed out into their kiss, immediately reacting and copying Clarke’s action. “Damn, you’re so wet again already…”

“You’re telling me,” Clarke murmured. Their faces were now just hovering in front of each other’s as they focused on their new tasks. Breaths mingling in between them, they both tried to get each other worked up faster than the other.

“You sure you’re not feeling cocky right now?” Lexa questioned, her fingers pumping quickly and causing Clarke to lose the ability to vocalize her thoughts coherently. Lexa was becoming breathless too, though, because Clarke didn’t let up at all.

All at once, though, Clarke’s breathing quivered and she let out a moan, tossing her head back, but she somehow continued her own movements, although her fingers slowed slightly inside the brunette. Lexa was smirking at her win, and as soon as Clarke came to enough to realize that, she wrapped her legs around the brunette’s, anchoring her there as she began to move her fingers fast and hard. Lexa immediately began to rise to climax, her wetness covering Clarke’s hand now.

Lexa called out a series of expletives as she came, and then she collapsed on top of Clarke, but the blonde didn’t seem to mind at all. They both came down from their orgasms as they laid there, and once their breaths had mostly evened out, Lexa spoke. “I fucking love you.”

“How much?” Clarke murmured.

“You know how much.”

“Mm, I love you too.”

They were silent for a few moments after that, but Lexa was not about to fall asleep. Even if today had been the longest work day ever, and if Lexa was more exhausted than ever, she wasn’t about to end this night already.

So after a few moments, Lexa rolled off of Clarke, lying next to her. Clarke pushed herself up onto her side, and Lexa eyes lingered on the blonde’s beautiful curves and full breasts. She really was incredible. “You’re beautiful,” Clarke whispered, her hand falling on Lexa’s defined abs and dragging downward, onto her thigh.

“No, you are,” Lexa argued.

“Can’t we both be?” Clarke asked in response. “Because you are, and there’s no doubts there.”

“Okay, fine,” Lexa agreed with a small smile. “C’mere…” She reached over and grabbed Clarke’s hip, guiding her on top of the brunette. She could tell it surprised Clarke slightly, but as soon as she was on top of Lexa, Lexa tugged her down to bring her lips down to Lexa’s. They shared a long, deep, passionate kiss, and then Lexa pulled their lips apart, gripped Clarke’s thighs with her hands, and began to pull her center up toward her. Clarke understood, obliging and allowing Lexa to guide her so that her center was above Lexa’s face. As soon as the brunette leaned up and brought her tongue and lips to Clarke’s center, the blonde shuddered, and she gripped the headboard with both her hands as her hips tried to grind against Lexa’s mouth

Lexa’s hands kept hold of Clarke’s ass and thighs, squeezing them appreciatively as she ate out her girlfriend. Clarke’s breathing quickened, and she began to moan as she threw her head backwards. She released the headboard with her left hand, grabbing her boob with it instead and kneading it. When she came, she shouted out a series of expletives, topped with Lexa’s name, satisfying loud. “ _ Fuck _ , Lexa,” she whimpered, after Lexa had helped her ride out her orgasm.

Lexa was dragging her tongue on the inside of Clarke’s thighs, taking in everything, as the blonde tried to calm her breathing. When Lexa started pressing kisses to her thighs instead, Clarke finally let herself fall into the mattress next to her girlfriend.

“Did that show you how much I love you?” Lexa murmured, turning onto her side and wrapping an arm over Clarke’s midsection as she buried her face in messy blonde hair.

“Mmhmm…”

Lexa was about to say something to her girlfriend, but blue eyes were suddenly being covered by fluttering eyelids, and it was clear that Clarke was being enveloped in sleep.

* * *

Clarke awoke to a still dark room, but an empty bed. The night sky viewable through the windows indicated that it was definitely still night, but Lexa was not on the bed, nor was she in the sleeping area. Sitting up slowly, she stretched her arms over her head and listened carefully for sounds through the apartment. She heard the fridge open and close, and, smiling to herself, tiredly got out of bed, threw on the discarded shirt she’d been wearing, and started padding across the hardwood floor to the main room. She buttoned the few middle buttons, like she had when originally kidnapping the shirt from Lexa’s closet.

Lexa was at the counter next to the stove, chopping tomatoes. A large pot of water was clearly on its way to boiling next to her, and next to that was a pan that was likely going to be used to make some pasta sauce. As someone who could definitely not cook, it blew Clarke away how well her girlfriend could. And she  _ loved _ watching Lexa cook. But the best part about right now was that her girlfriend was wearing nothing but her shirt, thrown on but likely not buttoned in the front.

Clarke would’ve tried to sneak up on the brunette, but since she was chopping something with a knife, she figured it would be safest to announce her presence. “Mm, hot,” she said, starting toward the kitchen as Lexa glanced over her shoulder, a smile coming to her face as she laid eyes on Clarke.

“Who me?” Lexa asked playfully. “Must be because of the stove.”

“No, I don’t think that’s quite it,” Clarke disagreed, “but if you wanna be modest, that’s your prerogative.”

Lexa laughed lightly. “Did I wake you up?”

“I think my subconscious just knew that you weren’t next to me anymore.” Clarke sat on the bar stool, folding her legs under herself.

“Aw, I’m sorry. I woke up feeling really hungry and realized that I hadn’t had dinner. I figured one in the morning isn’t  _ too _ late for food, so.”

“It’s never too late for food.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m sorry I made you skip dinner,” Clarke apologized, although she wasn’t particularly sorry for how the night had played out.

Lexa chuckled. “Don’t apologize. I had a great night – still am, actually. I’m glad I gave you that key, because if this is the kind of surprises I get to look forward to, I’m definitely excited.”

“I really missed you,” Clarke admitted. “I can’t stand not sleeping in the same bed as you.”

“I know. Me too.” They were both silent for a moment, and Clarke just watched her girlfriend dreamily as Lexa threw her chopped tomatoes into her sauce pan, and then checked on her boiling water before opening her box of pasta and pouring it into the pot. “You eating?”

“Mm, yes. I definitely worked up an appetite.”

Lexa laughed. “Understandable.” Silence again, for a moment. Clarke felt her heart swell as she watched the woman that she loved making them food, at one in the morning, after the amazing night they’d had earlier. Even after long days of working, these were their nights together, and they were worth everything.

Lexa seemed to notice that Clarke was getting caught up in some thoughts, and she pulled her out of them by taking a few steps toward the blonde.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about how much I love you and all of this… us together… we both work so hard all day, but then we get  _ this _ . I just feel so lucky to have you, and this, and this  _ with _ you,” Clarke said slowly, hoping that she was making sense. Lexa smiled, looking slightly amused, which told Clarke that her words must’ve been slightly confusing. “I just love you a  _ lot _ .”

“I love you too, babe,” Lexa replied softly. She came around the bar to press a gentle kiss against Clarke’s lips, practically melting her. When she pulled away, Lexa smirked and asked, “You up for a few more rounds after we eat?”

“Maybe  _ one _ ,” Clarke said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Only one?” Lexa asked with surprise, heading back over to the stove to work on her sauce.

“We have to get up early to go running, remember?”

“So what?”

“ _ So _ , we can have one more.”

“Three?”

“ _ One _ , and two if you’re  _ really _ good.”

“I think I can work with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters left lovelies! Next one will be up next Thursday! Thank you all for sticking around for this story, I appreciate all of you guys for reading and commenting and kudosing and all that jazz!  
> I have a great weekend!! xx


	17. I Got You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! It's time for the second to last chapter of this story! It's so crazy that it's almost over! D: Gonna give you all a quick life update at the end of the chapter, but for now..
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** It was August. The heat in Los Angeles was beyond measure, so Clarke had been choosing to be outside even less than normal, which meant that her usual Saturday jogging had been put on hold since late July. At first, she’d been bummed when she told Lexa, “It’s too hot, I don’t think I feel like jogging,” until she’d realized that it meant that Saturday mornings didn’t need to be early.

So it had become their routine to spend Friday nights together at Lexa’s place, and they could sleep in on Saturdays, cuddling and kissing and fucking as much as their hearts desired.

With the summer in full swing, Lexa had gotten pretty busy at work, but she hadn’t failed to make time for Clarke at all during it. Meanwhile, Clarke was sure she was approaching a promotion at her job, so she was working as hard as possible and doing her best to delegate at the same time. She had to prove that she had leadership abilities, or else she would be doomed to her same job title for years to come.

Things were beyond incredible for both of them, and they were nearing their fifth month anniversary.

It was strange really, thinking that they’d been together for that long. How had meeting a random stranger at a bar while trying to console a heartbroken friend turned into one of the best things that had ever happened to her?

With the approach of the fall months, Lexa’s life had also been complicated by  _ wedding talk _ . Though she was not a bridesmaid in Luna’s wedding, Anya had been nonstop talking about all the wedding details for a while now, and Lexa in turn was sharing all of the details with Clarke. Raven was also hearing a lot about it, because  _ thank goodness _ , the two of them had  _ finally _ made it official.

That phone call had been one of Clarke’s favorites in a while:

_ “Hey Rae, what’s up?” _

_ “Okay, okay, okay, I’m freaking out, C.” _

_ “Shit, is everything okay? What’s going on?” _

_ “No, no, everything’s fine, but—holy shit I just left Anya’s place. We were fucking last night, you know, as we do—” _

_ “Alright, I don’t really need to hear that part…” _

_ “Shut up, shut up,” Raven huffed out, “let me get to the point. We were fucking last night, and we were kind of wasted, and in a moment of stupidity, I said something like ‘I’m so lucky you’re mine.’ But I was  _ so _ drunk that I passed the fuck out like, right after. When I woke up this morning, she was making me breakfast—that’s normal with us, for context—like nothing happened, but I vaguely remembered it. I didn’t know if she remembered it. But, you know, you and I talked about how I need to talk to her. So I was like, suck it up Raven, you’ve gotta fucking do this.” _

_ Clarke was beaming. “So did you?” _

_ “Oh my god, I did, Clarke! I did, and it’s so good! She was making eggs at the stove, wearing my t-shirt, and I told her, I said that I thought she was incredible and that what I said last night—if she heard it—was what I wanted. That I was thinking a lot about it lately, how it would be cool to try being… more serious than casual hookups. And she didn’t even hesitate before agreeing, she said she’d been wanting that for a while, but that she was worried I wouldn’t want it. You were right. I feel so bad for taking so long, but she promised me that it’s okay. She gets that what happened with Zara was a big deal. God, C, she’s literally the best. I’m honestly… ugh, I’m so happy, Clarke.” _

_ “I’m so happy for you, Raven,” Clarke said softly. “Seriously, I am. You and Anya are so cute together, I’m so glad you guys are trying this.” _

_ “I think I might be in it for the long haul for real this time, too,” Raven admitted quietly. “She’s… just amazing. Ugh. Sorry. I’m gushing.” _

_ “It’s cute,” Clarke assured her. “I’m actually on my way to lunch with Lexa right now, though, so I’m gonna have to cut this chat short. But you should call Octavia, she’s going to die when you tell her—in a good way, of course.” _

_ “Yeah, yeah, you’re right, I have to call and tell her. Feel free to tell Lexa, though I guess Anya might’ve already. But we talked about it and we decided we don’t care who knows, because we know everyone’s kinda been rooting for us anyway. So. Yeah.” _

_ “Noted,” Clarke said with a chuckle. “Alright, I’ll see you later, Rae.” _

_ “Time to tell Octavia she’s the last single one of the three of us.” _

_ “She’ll be thrilled.” _

_ “Bye, C!” _

_ “See you, Rae!” _

Since then, Raven and Anya had gone from being really good friends with benefits to being girlfriends, and they held hands and kissed in public and it was so nice to see Raven happy again. She hadn’t even had that true happiness with Zara toward the end of their relationship, it’d seemed.

Raven had been complaining to Clarke and Octavia about the wedding drama that had started up again after some really passive aggressive conversation between Anya and Justina during one food tasting sessions with Sam and Luna. Lexa had heard about it from Anya, and so had Raven, so Clarke heard about it a lot from both her girlfriend and her friend.

All the talk about weddings was bringing up some interesting memories and thoughts for Clarke, because she just kept thinking back to the last wedding she’d been at—her dad’s. She remembered that her version of the wedding drama was in the form of her just feeling really out of place, surrounded by her step mother’s family, and her daughter, who had a much bigger role in the wedding than she had. She remembered her dad interacting so brightly with his soon to be step-daughter, and her feeling left out, jealous of her father’s affections.

And after that wedding, she’d done her best to stop caring about what her dad did or didn’t do for her. And yes, she’d seen him a few times since then, but that wedding… she’d been suppressing those memories.

She vocalized this to Lexa late one night, post sex while they were both naked, cuddling in Lexa’s bedroom, which was not completely dark, thanks to the flickering lights from the city below them. “It’s weird when I think about going to Luna and Sam’s wedding in November.”

Lexa’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, her fingers tracing little shapes on Clarke’s bare back. “Why? Wait… because of your dad’s wedding?”

Clarke smiled sadly—it made her happy to think that her girlfriend knew her so well, but it was sad that she was bothered by this at all. “Yeah. I don’t know, just… I guess my association with weddings has bee a little negative. And I didn’t really even notice it until there was like another wedding happening.” Lexa nodded gently. “I’m excited, and I’m so happy for them. It’s just bringing up weird memories.”

“Do you… do you think you should maybe talk to your dad? Have you ever told him about how his wedding made you feel?”

Clarke shook her head. “Never. I’ve never really talked about how his marriage and his new family affected me and him. He just didn’t seem to care, so it felt like if I brought it up, he wouldn’t get it.”

“You never know until you try.”

“That’s true. Just… I don’t know, you know?”

“I just think maybe it’ll help you get through this. I know you’re  _ okay _ … but I know it must suck to be missing that relationship with him. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have it and lose it,” Lexa said softly.

“Maybe you’re right,” Clarke agreed. “Sorry to bring this up all the sudden.”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” Lexa insisted with a shake of her head. “You can always talk to me about how you’re feeling, Clarke. You know that.”

“Yeah, I do.” Lexa pulled Clarke closer to her, and the blonde buried her face into Lexa’s neck, inhaling her smell and feeling dark hair tickling against her face. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Clarke.”

* * *

That’s how Clarke found herself at her mom’s one Sunday, one of the rare times that she visited her mother  _ not _ for a roughly biweekly lunch, to get her opinion on the matter. Her mom had insisted on making her some iced tea—“It’s too hot this summer, Clarke, I know you must be burning up”—and now they were seated in the living room with their respective iced drinks in their hands.

“What did you want to talk about, Clarke?”

Clarke took in a breath. She wasn’t in the practice of talking to her mom about her dad, but in all honesty, she wasn’t used to really talking to anyone about her dad until Lexa. So this was hard, understandably. “Dad.”

“Oh, okay, sweetie… what about him?”

“I’m thinking about calling him,” Clarke admitted quietly.

“I don’t understand, Clarke. You and your father have always been on speaking terms. Did something happen that you didn’t tell me?”

Clarke shook her head. “No, sorry, I mean… not to just catch up. I want to confront him about something.”

Abby let out a slightly impatient breath. “About what, dear?”

“When he got married, and I was at his wedding, I felt so left out, unappreciated… unwanted. He was so close with his new family, and they were so passive about me. And ever since then, it’s felt like that. The few times I’ve visited him, I felt outcasted from the rest of the family. It never feels like he wants to try. He’s never wanted to come visit Los Angeles, not even for like, my college graduation. And I’ve been realizing lately that I hold it against him. I wish it didn’t bother me, but it does. And… Lexa and I were talking, and we both think it could help me if I talk to him about it.”

Abby nodded slowly. “I can see how that would help. But what are you asking me, Clarke? You’re a grown woman, you can always call your father if you want to.”

“I just wanted to know what you thought on the matter, I guess.”

“Clarke, I think you should do whatever makes you happy. It definitely hurts me that you had to lose your closeness with your father—you two were so close when you were growing up. And maybe at first, I was selfishly grateful that you two grew apart, because it gave me the opportunity to be closer to you. But that’s not fair to you, you deserve both of your parents in your life, Clarke. You’re incredible. If he can’t recognize how much he’s losing by not including you in his life, he’s an idiot.”

Clarke smiled. “I love you, mom. I’m so glad that we got to become closer after he left. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Luckily, you don’t have to find out anytime soon,” Abby promised her softly, and she reached out to grab and squeeze her daughter’s hand encouragingly. “If you want to call your dad, call him. Tell him what you’re thinking. Get  _ him _ thinking about what you’re worth to him. Because you deserve the world, sweetie.”

“Thank you, mom, really.”

“Don’t thank me.”

* * *

Clarke was going to do it, she was going to call her dad.

She was at Lexa’s apartment—she’d gotten out of work earlier than her girlfriend, unsurprisingly, and was waiting for her to get back. And in the meantime, she was trying not to psych herself out of her calling her father.

**Clarke – Ugh what if it goes really badly?**

**Lexa – You’ve got this babe! I’ll be home in like, an hour and a half tops, so if anything really negative does happen, I’ll be there to make you food and give you cuddles and cheer you up. And we have the rest of that wine from the other night.**

**Clarke – You make a good point.**

**Clarke – Alright I’m just gonna do it.**

**Clarke – Wish me luck!!!**

**Lexa – Good luck!!**

Before she could talk herself out of it somehow, Clarke navigated to the phone call app on her phone and found her dad’s contact, hitting the call button immediately. She held the phone to her ear shakily, crossing her legs underneath her where she was sitting on Lexa’s giant bed.

The phone rang once, twice, thrice, and by then, part of her was hoping that it would just keep ringing and then stop, a voice message picking up. But no, halfway through the fourth ring, it stopped to allow for her father, Jake’s, voice, “Clarke! Hey! It’s been a while! Everything okay?”

The fact that he assumed something was wrong just because she’d called made her sigh sadly. “I mean, kind of yes, kind of no.”

“What’s up? Are things okay with work and your mom and everything?”

“Things are great actually,” Clarke admitted quietly, tugging on the fabric of Lexa’s comforter underneath her to keep her hands occupied. “I see mom at least once every two weeks. My friends are good. I’m looking at a possible promotion soon. And my five month anniversary with my girlfriend is coming up.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you’d started seeing someone, Clarke. That’s great, I’m glad to hear it!”

“Yeah, you didn’t know,” Clarke sighed out, realizing that he’d given her the perfect transition into the conversation she’d really called to have. “That’s what I called to talk to you about dad. You never know anything that’s happening in my life.”

“Well, you don’t call often, Clarke.”

“Yeah, and you don’t call at all,” Clarke snapped back, before biting down on her tongue, realizing how harsh she sounded. “Sorry. Just… I need—”

“Clarke—”

“No, dad, I need to say some things to you,” Clarke insisted. “I promise not to get all pissed, I’m sorry, just please let me talk for a minute?”

“Alright, Clarke. Go ahead.”

She took in a deep breath. “So my girlfriend’s friend Luna is getting married in November, they’ve been planning their wedding and talking about it and I just kept thinking about the only wedding I’ve ever been to in my life—yours, like eleven years ago. And I realized that I hold a lot of negative feelings associated with weddings now, because yours was not a great experience for me.”

“What do you mean? What was wrong with it?” Jake sounded genuinely confused.

Clarke let her eyes flutter closed when she felt tears welling into them. How could he not know at all? “You were getting a whole new family, dad, which I knew before I went to the wedding of course, but I just felt so excluded. You were so happy with your new step-daughter, and I… I didn’t feel wanted, dad. That’s why it’s been so hard for me to come visit you, especially in high school. Your new family… they’re your priority, and I get it, but I’m your daughter too. I don’t have another dad like you have another family. And we were close when I was a kid, so I just can’t understand how you’re so okay with us talking maybe a few times a year, and hardly ever seeing each other.”

“You can come see me anytime, Clarke, and I’d love to—”

“You’re missing the point, dad!” Clarke interrupted, her voice raising despite her promise that she would keep calm. “You’re not trying! You want  _ me _ to do all the trying! But I didn’t ask for you to leave, I didn’t ask for you to get a new family! And I get it now, okay? I know what love is and I know what relationships are like, and I understand that you had to leave because you weren’t happy, and I understand that you love your new family too, okay?  _ I get it _ . But what I don’t get it not  _ wanting _ to see me. If you  _ wanted _ to see me, you would call. You would make the effort to come visit Los Angeles sometimes, or at least be the one to offer a specific invitation for me to come up to San Francisco. If I start the conversation every time, dad, it just makes it feel like you don’t care about me. And I didn’t realize how much I held this all against you until recently, and I just… I thought that maybe explaining it all to you would help. But maybe it was stupid, maybe the reason you never noticed it is just because you don’t care, maybe—”

“Wait, wait, Clarke,” Jake interrupted quickly, “hold on, let me say something. I’m so glad you’re being honest and real with me. I want to be honest with you too—I have never known that that was how you felt. I guess… I always just thought that after I left you and your mom… that you wouldn’t want to see me again. I treasured the times we got to spend together, though they were few and far between, but I genuinely didn’t realize that you  _ wanted _ more. In high school, you seemed so bent on staying away.”

“Because I was jealous, dad, of your  _ new daughter _ . I didn’t want to visit, because when I was there, I felt like an outcast. And you never noticed, and that  _ hurt _ . All I wanted was to hang out with my dad, you know?”

He sighed, sounding defeated. “I understand what you’re saying. That’s something I should’ve noticed. I guess I was always blinded by my own happiness at having all the people I love the most in one place—you included, Clarke. Maybe I’m really bad at showing it, but I do love you. And I would love to be a bigger part of your life, if you haven’t written me off yet.”

Clarke felt a droplet land on her calf, and she realized that she was crying. She wasn’t sure when the tears had begun to leak, but they were now flowing freely. Shakily, she commanded, “You have to put in effort, dad.  _ You _ have to try.  _ You _ have to reach out. I can promise to do the same, but you  _ have _ to, or it’s not going to happen. I can’t give you a chance if things are going to stay the same between us. If you want us to be close again, you can’t wait around for me to call you.”

“I understand, Clarke. Trust me, I do want to get closer to you again. I’d love to hear all about your life and everything, really. And I’ll put in the effort, Clarke. I can do that. I want to do that. I don’t want you to feel unwanted by your own father. It breaks my heart to hear that you ever did, and that I was too stupid to notice.”

Clarke began wiping the tears from her face, because they were starting to let up. “Really?”

“Really, kiddo.” Clarke felt her heart ache at the nickname—how long had it been since he’d called her that? “I promise, okay? And to prove it, how about I drive down to Los Angeles next month sometime? We can catch up in person, over dinner or lunch or something? And—if you want—I can meet this girlfriend you’ve been with for almost five months.”

Clarke felt her hopes lifting, a smile coming to her face as she sniffled, her tears having stopped falling. “Yeah, I’d like that, dad.”

“Great. How does the second weekend of September look for you?”

“Hold on, lemme see,” Clarke said softly, pulling her phone away from her face to put him on speaker before navigating to her phone calendar. “Um, I have lunch with mom on that Saturday.”

“The third weekend then?”

“All free.”

“Perfect. Then I’ll drive down on Saturday.”

Clarke smiled a little wider. “Okay, sounds good.”

“Anything you wanna catch up on right now while we’re still on the phone? I’m just off work, and I have you on Bluetooth while I’m driving, so I have time if you do.”

“Yeah… yeah sure,” Clarke agreed, kind of surprised that he was so willing to stay on the phone with her. She laid back onto Lexa’s pillows. “I got off work about forty-five minutes ago. I’m at my girlfriend’s place, she’ll be back probably in like an hour to an hour and a half, then she’s gonna make us dinner.”

“Oh good, you found someone who can cook,” Jake said with a little laugh.

Clarke sighed, contently now, as she let her eyes close peacefully. “Yeah. She’s good at it too, and she loves it, so she offers all the time. She’s so incredible, dad. She makes me so happy.”

“Tell me more about her, then.”

* * *

Later that night, Clarke and Lexa were sitting on Lexa’s couch, a fluffy blanket spread over the both of them as they each leaned on an arm of the sofa, their feet tangling in the middle. They each had a plate of food on their laps, eating their homecooked dinner as Lexa finally asked, “So, how did it go with your dad?”

They hadn’t talked about while Lexa was cooking because Clarke had been passed out when her girlfriend got home, and Lexa hadn’t wanted to wake her up. Clarke was excited to tell her girlfriend the good news, though, so a smile easily grew over her face when she asked. “So surprisingly well. I told him everything I had to say, and he told me that he didn’t ever realize what I was feeling. Which… I think kind of really sucks, that he didn’t even notice… but it makes me feel like it was an even better idea to open up and tell him everything. Anyway, we kind of talked it out a little, both of our sides of the situation, and then he told me he wants to be a part of my life again—an actual one. I made him promise to  _ try _ , and he suggested that as his first act of doing so, he’s going to drive down here the third week of September to catch up in person. So don’t schedule anything, because you’re gonna meet him.”

Lexa had been smiling through all of Clarke’s explanation until that, when her face twisted into a look of concern. “Are you sure, babe? It’ll be your first time catching up with your dad in a long time.”

“I’m sure, really. We’ve been together for almost half a year now, babe. I want him to get to meet you—the woman I love, who makes me so fucking happy.”

Lexa lit up at that. “Well in that case, of course I’ll meet him. I’m so glad it went well, Clarke. It was so hard seeing you seem so upset when you talked about him. I’m glad there’s a chance of things getting a lot better between you both.”

“Me too. And… I know you didn’t really make me do it at all, but thank you for suggesting it. I might not have even though about calling him if you hadn’t said something, because I’ve always just had this mindset that he must not care. I never really considered that he thought that  _ I _ didn’t care. We were kind of… both thinking the same thing about each other.”

“Well, you don’t have to thank me, but you’re welcome. You know I just want you to be happy, Clarke.”

“Like I said before, you make me happy, babe.”

Lexa smiled gently. “I’m so glad.”

“Now hurry up and eat your food. We need to properly celebrate this monumental occasion!”

“With sex?”

“Of course with sex! Hurry up and eat!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick things: life's been really busy, tbh I haven't written anything in like two weeks. My birthday was last weekend so I was busy during most of that, plus I have/had two tests this week and I'm still cramming for one of them. Plus lots of homework always. Plus just other life things - some of which are great, but like, still been pretty busy basically. So for now, I don't think there's going to be any new Clexa content after this story from me, at least not for a while. Obviously, I have a Choni story up right now, and that will be having consistent updates for the next couple of months. And it's likely that the following story will be Choni. So I'm not sure about the Clexa content right now, but more about that next week.  
> Thank you all for reading, feel free to leave any feedback! I'll see you all next Thursday for the final chapter of Still Made Of Gold!! xx


	18. My Heart's Still Made of Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! This is the last chapter of this story.  
> I don't think I mentioned this already, but if you don't recognize the lyrics in the chapter title, it's from Rainbow by Kesha. None of the story is really based around the song at all, but that's where I got the title from.  
> (more notes at the bottom!)
> 
> Enjoy!!xx

**** “Wait, shit, really?” Octavia asked, rolling over onto her stomach on Clarke’s bed from the position on her stomach she’d previously been on. “Your dad is visiting this weekend? Like,  _ tomorrow _ ? Bitch, how could you not mention this to me earlier?”

“I guess I forgot,” Clarke said, and she genuinely felt bad. Octavia would’ve been her go-to person to talk about something like this with before Lexa. “But I told you that I talked to him, and that he wants to be closer again.”

“Yeah, but  _ him _ coming to _ LA _ is a big fucking deal, C!” Octavia exclaimed, and she sat up to better face Clarke, who was sitting at her desk doing her makeup. It was Friday night, and she, Lexa and their friends were going out, but her girlfriend was still at work, so she was getting ready at her own place with Octavia.

“I know, O. I’m sorry. I really didn’t meant to  _ not _ tell you.”

“Okay… I forgive you,” Octavia gave in. “What are you guys gonna do?”

“Grab lunch, I think. Lexa’s gonna come with. Gonna catch up and all that. I’m actually kind of nervous, but mostly excited. Also a little scared, though—what if he seems really uninterested or something? What if he’s decided that it’s too much effort?”

“Then fuck him,” Octavia answered, as though it were obvious. “Not literally, though.”

“That’s disgusting, O. I would’ve never thought you meant literally.”

Octavia laughed a little. “Right, sorry. Okay, well, I think you should go into it with a positive attitude. And I want updates on whatever happens, okay?”

“Will do, I promise.”

* * *

It was cooling down in Los Angeles enough that Clarke and Lexa had resumed their Saturday morning jogs, and this third weekend of September was no exception. Jake wouldn’t be in LA until about noon, so Clarke and Lexa were up early and headed to Griffith Park for their usual jog.

Clarke and Lexa were both happy to have gotten into the routine of running, and they’d both found themselves getting stronger and faster. Plus, it was actually a great time for them to just talk. And this particular Saturday, they talked a lot about Clarke’s dad. She told Lexa some of her favorite and least favorite memories of him, and then gave her a rundown on his new family. Lexa was being nothing but supportive, and Clarke had to stop and remind herself at some point that Lexa didn’t  _ have _ a family at all. And as much as Lexa insisted that it didn’t matter, she still felt bad sometimes for having family drama.

She would apologize later, though, probably through actions more than words, and for now, she didn’t say anything about it.

After their run, they went back to Clarke’s to shower and change. Clarke and Lexa had both begun to leave some of their clothes at the other’s apartment, though in all honesty, more of Clarke’s stuff was at Lexa’s than the other way around. Their weekends were often spent in the penthouse rather than her own apartment, and no one could blame them really. Lexa’s penthouse was beautiful.

They then had a small brunch to hold them over till lunch, and then they accidentally passed out for a brief nap on Clarke’s bed.

Luckily, Clarke woke up to her phone ringing with a call from her dad. She answered it quickly, her girlfriend peeling her eyes open next to her. “I’m on my way to the restaurant now, about ten minutes away,” he told her happily.

“Awesome, we’ll head over then,” Clarke said, hoping the sleepiness in her voice wasn’t evident.

“Can’t wait to see you, kiddo!”

“Same, dad. Drive safe!”

“You too!”

Lexa drove them to the restaurant, because Clarke was nervous, and her girlfriend could probably really notice. They made it to the little café before Jake, getting a table and ordering waters. A few minutes later, Jake walked in, and Clarke felt a nervous smile on her face as she waved him over.

“Clarke!” he exclaimed brightly, and she stood to hug him, hearing Lexa stand as well. “Oh my goodness, it’s so great to see you in person. You look so good, too, beautiful just like your mom.”

Clarke smiled. “Thanks, dad. Ah, this is my girlfriend Lexa. Lexa, this is my dad, Jake.”

“It’s really great to meet you,” Lexa said, extending a hand, which Jake grabbed enthusiastically, shaking.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he promised. “I talked on the phone with Clarke about you, and she couldn’t stop gushing. I’ve been excited to meet you ever since.”

Lexa looked at Clarke curiously. “Oh really? This is the first I’ve heard of that.”

Clarke blushed. “Hey, don’t look so surprised that I’d gush over you.” Lexa smirked a little and laughed, and then the three of them took their seats.

It would’ve been easy for the conversation over lunch to turn awkward—all that would have to happen was for the conversation to die off and for no new one to replace it—but it didn’t. Clarke had plenty of questions for her dad, but for every one she asked him, he had two for her and Lexa. It was so refreshing to have him inquiring about things she was doing, and what her life was like. She really appreciated his efforts, but she could tell it was genuine too. He wasn’t doing it just for her, he  _ wanted _ to know her again.

He seemed to really like Lexa, too, which Clarke hadn’t had any doubt about. And she knew her girlfriend was a little hesitant—or at least, she assumed she was, because Lexa had heard all the things she’d said about her dad that probably gave her not the best first impression—but overall, it seemed like everything went well.

And when the lunch ended, Clarke gave her father a hug and he promised that he would make it down to LA more often. He’d also promised his son that he’d bring him someone to go to Disneyland, and Jake asked Clarke if they’d like to join when they eventually did. She told him of course.

Then they parted ways, and Clarke wasn’t really sure if Jake was driving straight back up to San Francisco or what, but she didn’t ask. Instead, she dragged her girlfriend back to her car and suggested that they go back to Lexa’s apartment. The brunette agreed, although she gave her a slightly confused and interested look. When they got back to the penthouse, though, it became instantly clear that Clarke was intending to thank her for everything in a very sexy way, and Clarke heard no complaints from her girlfriend when she topped her for three rounds in a row.

She let Lexa on top of her for one final round before they passed out through the rest of the afternoon.

When she woke up just before dinner time, Clarke’s first and only thought for a good few minutes was that she was just  _ so _ damn happy.

* * *

Lexa got home one Friday night in early October to a silent apartment. She was used to Clarke having settled in for the evening, usually watching something on the TV or playing music from Lexa’s Bluetooth speaker, or something. But no, the penthouse was silent, and Lexa wondered if Clarke was even there. She was so used to her being there on Friday nights that she hadn’t even thought to text her and ask.

“Clarke?” she called curiously, setting her keys and bag down on the kitchen counter after closing the door. “Babe? Are you here?”

She started toward her sleeping area, and sure enough, when she turned the corner, she saw her girlfriend sitting on her bed, in just a set of deep red lingerie. An unopened bottle of wine sat on the nightstand with two glasses, and Clarke was grinning at her. “Hey, Lexa,” she purred, “how was work?”

“Um, not as good as I’m thinking this night is gonna be,” Lexa said with a little laugh. “Did you already eat?”

“No, but I know you haven’t either, so I thought maybe we could order something?”

“Why can’t I just cook for you?” Lexa asked, leaning against the glass window and checking her girlfriend out openly.

“Because, Lexa, we’re going to be doing too much celebrating to have time for cooking.”

Lexa lifted an eyebrow. “What are we celebrating, beautiful?”

“Why, I’m so glad you asked,” Clarke said in mock formality, grabbing the bottle of wine and pulling the cork out swiftly. The action somehow turned Lexa on, and she felt the urge to pin her sexy girlfriend on her bed and take her right then and there. But she waited, because she did want to know what they were celebrating so that she could properly please her girlfriend. “I was informed today, near the end of my work day, that I have been selected for the promotion I’ve been trying for all summer!”

“Oh my god,” Lexa exclaimed, and she practically ran over to bed, about to tackle Clarke with a hug when she remembered the bottle of wine. Instead, she leaned down and pressed her lips to Clarke’s excitedly. When she pulled away, Clarke was still grinning. “Congratulations, Clarke. Oh my god, you so deserve this, babe. You work so hard.”

“Thank you,” Clarke said softly. “So, wine with me? And then we’ll order some food, have a couple of rounds, eat the food, have some more rounds?”

“I like the way you think, my love,” Lexa murmured, sitting next to her and dropping her hand to Clarke’s flat stomach. “But…” She leaned forward to press a fluttery kiss to Clarke’s jaw, before dragging her lips up to the blonde’s ear. “I kinda wanna fuck you before we wine and dine, because you really fucking deserve it.”

Her hand began to trail down Clarke’s front, and the blonde inhaled sharply, suddenly leaning over to the nightstand to set the wine down. “Alright, and then we order food, or else we’ll forget and neither of us will be getting dinner until well past midnight.”

“Deal,” Lexa murmured, sucking onto the skin on the end of Clarke’s jaw before lowering down to her neck. Her hand was slipping underneath the lacy red panties, and her other hand turned and pressed Clarke into the blankets below her.

It was going to be one full night of celebration, that was for sure.

* * *

“I can’t believe you guys have been together for seven months,” Raven said to Clarke, shaking her head. “Time fucking flies.”

It was the beginning of November, and sure enough, Clarke and Lexa had celebrated their seven months with a little date to themselves. They were starting to care less to do something super special the longer they got, and of course after their one year anniversary, they would probably forget to think of months as a big cause for celebration. They already seemed just like regular days, and since Clarke and Lexa were accustomed to having date nights anyway, it wasn’t super out of the ordinary for the to grab a dinner one or two nights out of the week.

But Raven was right—time really did fly.

It was the day of Luna and Sam’s wedding. Raven, Octavia, and Clarke were all in an Uber on the way to the venue. Lexa was already there, because although she wasn’t  _ in _ the wedding, she’d gone early to help keep Anya sane. Clarke had said the month before that she was basically being the maid of honor’s maid of honor, and it had been a running joke between all of them since then.

“Honestly,” Octavia agreed. “But you too, Rae. You and Anya have been together for what… three months?”

Raven nodded with a proud smile. “Yep. I mean, officially yes. But I think I’m gonna talk to Anya about making our official anniversary to when we first started seeing each other like, exclusively. We hadn’t really  _ talked _ about exclusivity at the time, but neither of us were seeing other people. And I don’t know, it feels like we’ve been  _ together _ all that time, you know?”

“I get it,” Octavia agreed with a nod. “God, I can’t believe both of you guys aren’t single anymore. Leaving me behind in the dust, officially.”

“There’d be less dust if you went out and got laid more,” Raven insisted, getting a glare from the other brunette.

“Fuck you, I get laid  _ enough _ .”

“Alright you two,” Clarke chided them, waving playfully. They were in an Uber after all, and she could tell that their driver seemed a little uncomfortable at the conversation. She made a mental note to give him a good rating. “Is it weird that I’m kind of nervous for this wedding? It’s not like there’s anything I have to do other than just be there, but…”

“Your dad,” Octavia said easily, and she nodded.

“I thought it would be better now that him and I are talking again, but I guess I still have some lingering anxiety. I mentioned it to Lexa last night, but I figured it would’ve dissipated by now.”

“Anxiety is weird like that,” Raven offered up sadly. “But you’re a badass, Clarke, you got this.”

Clarke gave her friends both a grateful smile. “Yeah. This is so much different from that wedding, I shouldn’t even be correlating the two.”

“In all honesty,” Octavia said, “weddings make me kind of sad. They remind me of how utterly alone I am.”

“Aw, O.” Raven wrapped her arms around the brunette. “You’re not alone, you have us.”

“That doesn’t help, Rae.”

“It doesn’t? Not at all?” Clarke asked.

“Okay, maybe a little. But still. I want a big fancy wedding someday. I feel like my time is running out.”

“It’s most definitely  _ not _ ,” Clarke promised her best friend. “You’re gonna find love, O. I  _ know _ it.”

“Ditto.”

They reached the venue, thanking their driver as they hurried out of the car. Other people were already arriving, so they hurried into the building and into the walkway, with seats on either side of the aisle.

Clarke spotted Lexa sitting near the front, and she grabbed her friends’ hands, pulling them toward her. “Hey babe,” she greeted, sliding into the seat next to the brunette, whose eyes had been previously trained on her phone.

“Hey!” she said brightly as she looked up, leaning into Clarke for a quick kiss. “Sorry, Anya texted me—she’s freaking out for a different reason than normal. Sister emotions, I guess. She doesn’t want Luna to see her crying, but she’s crying.”

Raven frowned deeply. “I wish I could go back there and see her…”

“I think she’ll be okay,” Lexa promised her. “They walk in like ten minutes, I think, so that gives her time to get herself together.”

So for those ten minutes, they talked about the plans for the reception, and Octavia specifically inquired about the food, which they learned would be basically a build your own tacos and nachos buffet, which made them all pretty excited. Then, after about ten minutes, all of the guests had filed in and found seats, and the officiant appeared on the stage in the front of the hall. Music began to play, and everyone silent as the doors in the back of the hall opened.

Sam came down first, wearing a white tux with black accents, her hair slicked to the side in its usual cool way. She had somewhat darker makeup on than what she would normally wear, and it complimented her outfit nicely. Her bridesmaids trailed behind her, and they all lined up on one side of the officiant.

Then Luna came down, wearing a long, flowing white dress. Her usually wild hair was tamed by multiple braids that created an intricate design, and a grin was plastered over her face. Anya was just behind her, with the rest of Luna’s bridesmaids behind her, and Clarke saw Raven’s eyes raking over her girlfriend.

When the ceremony started, any previous negative thoughts she’d had about weddings were wiped from her mind. Lexa grabbed her hand about halfway through the ceremony, and Clarke squeezed it tightly. It occurred to her that Anya and Luna were the closest people to being Lexa’s family, and that this was probably definitely emotional for her.

When Sam and Luna were giving each other their vows, Anya started tearing up visibly on the stage, and so did Lexa. Then the officiant asked them to say a forma little “I do,” and the couple kissed lovingly, and everyone applauded and cheered.

The rest of the night went by in a flash. They all went to the reception hall, which was a short walk away, and they met up with Anya. Luna and Sam walked in after all of the guests had settled in, and they gave a brief speech to thank everyone for coming. Then food was served, music began playing, and alcohol began flowing from bottles into glasses.

At some point, they did toasts, and Justina gave a sweet and concise speech about her sister. Anya followed up by giving a speech that was longer, and full of both humor and emotion. She had clearly topped the other maid of honor, who looked a little irked, but toasted along with everyone else to the speech.

“She’s gonna be talking about that win for weeks,” Lexa murmured to Clarke, who smirked and nodded in agreement.

There was cake, and Sam and Luna cut it adorably, the latter shoving some into Sam’s face playfully. Sam just rolled her eyes and kissed her wife, spreading the frosting onto Luna’s face, and it was all so cute and beautiful.

When the evening began to wrap up and guests started saying their goodbyes to the wives, Clarke found herself looking around the beautiful venue—at all the food, flowers, and people—and she realized for the first time that she wanted this. A wedding, with the person she loved, at some point. She looked at Lexa lovingly—the brunette was talking to Anya at the time—and she could see it all.

She could picture them standing face to face in front of an officiant, baring their souls to each other in front of all of their friends and family. She could picture them pulling each other in for their first kiss as  _ wife and wife _ . She could picture their first dance, the speeches and toasts from Octavia, Raven, and Anya. She could picture feeding Lexa a piece of some fancy white cake and she knew Lexa would try to smudge some on her. She picture it all.

She wanted it all—and  _ more _ .

And to think that about eight months earlier, she’d been wondering if she’d ever find someone who could make her want all that. She had felt so stuck, but now, she’d never felt more alive. She may have lost her shine for a little while, but Lexa had brought it back. She’d almost lost hope, but the beautiful brunette who had stolen her heart had also reminded her that it was still made of gold—still a precious part of her that she should treasure, that Lexa would treasure. And Clarke would hold onto Lexa’s heart with the utmost care too, because  _ damn _ did she love that woman.

Clarke was sure she’d never been happier in all her life, and when she went home with Lexa that night, she told her so. And Lexa told her the same thing back. And everything felt so good and so right, and Clarke wouldn’t trade it for anything in the whole goddamn world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap lovelies!! It's been an honor to get to write this story and have you guys come through this journey with me!  
> As many of you know, I'm currently writing a Choni story, and for a while, I will be solely updating that story. The next story I'm working on is also a Choni story. I don't want to say that I'm officially stopping writing for Clexa. I have written twenty-one (21!!!!!) stories for Clexa in the past... 2.5is years? Maybe 3 years? I have never felt like I fit in a fandom better than being in Clexa fandom, so someone would have to kill me to take me out of it haha. I'm thinking I'll at least be putting out some one shots for Clexa in the next few months. But for now, I don't have plans for another Clexa story.  
> If you don't already, make sure to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana so you can keep up with me and my stories and everything :) I love talking to and getting to know y'all, so please come bother me on Twitter :P  
> Again, thank you all so so so so much for following this story and leaving so many wonderful comments. I appreciate you all so so much. Love you guys, have a great great weekend and I'll hopefully see you on Twitter! :) xx

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to sincerely thank you for being here! :D You can always find me on Twitter @BrittzandTana , and from there, you can check my other links for some cool stuff! Or if you just wanna chat, I'm always on Twitter for that as well! I hope you have a lovely day/night, and I'll see you all soon! xx


End file.
